New Years Special
by kendraleaanne
Summary: Lucy's running around in a party planning frenzy to get Fairy Tail ready for her annual New Years Eve party, which all the guilds of Fiore are invited to. She'll have to blackmail a few Dragon Slayers, dress her precious nakama to the nines and make some new connections in order for it to go off without a hitch. But who will end up next to the blonde when the countdown ends?
1. Chapter 1

~Oh my word, I feel like it's been forever my darlings!

So I'm really excited about this one because it's... TOTALLY UP TO YOU GUYS WHO LUCY ENDS UP WITH!

That's right, I've left the pairing open so you all can review and pm who you want her to have her New Years kiss with. While I wait for the results, I'll be working on Dragon Incidents so please please please, leave me a review with who you want Lu to end up with and if it's someone I haven't written in yet, I'll gladly write them in, you just have to let me know!

I really hope you like it because it was super fun to write!~

* * *

The week before New Years was one of Lucy's absolute favorites. She loved watching the people of Magnolia rush around from store to store, buying all the necessities for the holiday season bundled in thick coats, scarves, gloves, hats, all topped off with a rainbow of colors and patterns clashing against the stark white snowfall.

She had Taurus put up her tree the first day of the month, all her spirits coming out to help decorate the beautiful silver and gold adorned tree. It's tiny bright, crystal clear lights reflected off the metallic sheen of the ornaments to create an enchanting scene when the sun went down and she curled on her couch in her little apartment to watch the snowflakes coat the town in a fresh sheet of white. The little blonde had almost regretted having to ruin the peaceful untouched frozen dreamscape this morning on her way to the guild to help Mira and Max with the planning for the guilds New Years Eve party next week. After they three had a pretty solid plan, making sure to have Lucy inform Laxus that he would have to get in touch with the guilds of Fiore to invite them all as soon as possible seeing as how she was the only person who could get close to him during the holiday season. For some unknown reason, the massive Lightning dragon absolutely despised Christmas time and did his best to avoid any and all things 'cheery and bright', which made the Takeover Mage swoon at his acceptance of the Celestial Mage who exuded holiday cheer with every breath she took.

In the years that Mira had gotten to spend Christmas with Lucy, the silver haired beauty noticed the closer they got to the last week of the year, the brighter the little blonde got, more pep in her step, her voice caught in a permanent sweet, lilting cheer and her eyes pulled whoever met their golden sparkle into the infectious bubbling excitement right along with her. It made for a much more interesting December to watch from behind her bar at the guild, amusing her to no end to watch the angelic mage flit from guild mate to guild mate, taking the time to sit and chat, smile and laugh, with her precious nakama. While it shouldn't have surprised her as her sapphire blue eyes were greeted with the sight of Lucy, leaned over the table across from the Iron Slayer, her little white skirt's hem stretching high on her red and green striped stocking covered thighs as she managed to get the surly man to smile at her, his faint pink blush not unnoticed by the matchmaker. The fact that while his ruby gaze was fixated on her beaming smile, the onyx gaze of the pink-haired Slayer was unmoving from the sliver of white lace at her core and the Devil Slayer next to him was equally as obvious. She almost couldn't handle all the beautiful baby possibilities before the Poison Slayer drawled from his usual barstool at the end of the bar, perfectly positioned that he could watch the guild from the corner of his good eye but far enough out of the way that most of the guild had to go out of their way to interact with him, just they way he liked it, "Fuck, Demon woman, get yourself under control. It's bad enough with Bright Eyes running around, her thoughts set to ungodly fucking levels of joy, I don't need your insanity as well."

Setting another belladonna bourbon in front of the maroon haired man, her eyes never leaving the little blonde as she spoke almost a little watery, "She really is something else though. Ever since Lis disappeared, Christmas had always been this dark cloud for us. The guild turned into this enigma of guilt, drinking the season away but when Natsu brought her, she managed to get us out of that funk." Turning to meet his amethyst eye, voice back to normal, which grated on the poor dragon's senses endlessly, "And now Lis is back and Lucy's unshakable love for this guild and this time of year has brought a fervor our nakama hasn't had in a very long time." Narrowing her eyes with a curling smile Cobra did not like the thoughts behind, her voice low as she spoke, "Don't think I don't notice your watching of the Light of Fairy Tail, Erik. You aren't the only observant mage at this bar."

He rolled his eye at the barmaid's giggling as she went back to wiping down her glasses, unwilling to make a comment because he knew no matter what he said, the oldest Strauss was right and he wasn't willing to admit that to the love-crazed matchmaker.

Across the guild hall, the woman at the center of conversation at the bar had left the table holding Gajeel's smirking face to bounce her way to her team's table and plopping down across from Gray and Natsu, who were suspiciously too quiet and too still for her liking. With her golden gaze narrowing, her voice was skeptical and probing as she leaned over the table to poke each of their foreheads, effectively breaking whatever weird trance had taken over them, "Why are you two being so good? I don't like it when they two of you are calm, makes me nervous."

Gray was the first to recover, his voice cool and easy as his shirt flew from his body unconsciously, "I'm always good, it's Fireface who starts shit with me."

The Ice Make Mage's words pulling him into his usual hot-headed nature, the Fire Slayer let a punch fly towards the raven haired man next to him, voice filled with the fight he obviously wanted, "Me? You're the one who says stupid shit to piss me off on purpose. How is it my fault that I happen to speak better with my fists than my mouth?"

Knowing just how quickly her two teammates' arguments can escalate, she walked around the table, going completely unseen by the pair, before throwing her arms around their shoulders and whispering low, enunciating every word with the practiced ease of an heiress, "Now boys, you wouldn't ruin my favorite time of year with your asinine fighting, would you?"

Both the mages in her arms were trying desperately to focus on the opposite face instead of her very low cut red sweater, the edges of her matching white lace bra peaking from the collar, as Natsu coughed to clear a sudden lump in his throat, his voice almost convincing as light-hearted, "Don't worry, Luce. We know how much you love the start of a new year so whatever you need, just let us know," his toothy grin bright as she looked into his onyx eyes.

Half pushing and elbowing to get between the two to sit down, pulling a notebook from...somewhere on her persons, her voice suddenly serious, "I need a couple of dapper gentlemen to help me keep my New Years party from being a dud and I know exactly who I want to fill those positions. Virgo already has already tailored your tuxedos."

Gray let out a groan at the prospect of having to keep a tux on his body before he leaned forward heavily, his voice defeated, "Lucy, I can't keep my own clothes on and you are gonna want me to wear a monkey suit? You know how that'll go."

Smiling mischievously at him, her voice held an air that Gray definitely did not like coming from her lips, "Don't worry about that. I've been talking to Virgo and she's making all the outfits for the party. She's putting her very extensive knowledge of bindings on yours to make it irremovable," mumbling under her breath absently, "well, _I'll_ be able to get it off you but that's because Virgo insisted I learn how."

Interrupting before Gray could make a snarky comment about the beautiful blonde being the only one who'll be able to undress him the night of the party, Natsu, who was completely oblivious to the other man's thoughts, leaned closer to his best friend, his tone excited, "Do I get to MC? Please tell me I'm gonna MC, Luce."

Chuckling at the pinkette, she nodded as she spoke kindly, "That's the kind of enthusiasm I like to hear. Of course you're going to be MC. But we're partners, right?"

Raising a fist in the air, he shot up, "Does that mean you'll be date?" His onyx eyes were shining with what the blonde assumed was excitement but Gray knew the emotion to be something far less innocent as he looked to her.

Tucking the planner away, Lucy smiled up at her Fire dragon from under her long lashes, her voice light with cheer, "Who else would be your date?" Putting her hand on Gray's bare, muscular shoulder to help her up from the bench, ducking to give the mage a quick hug before heading to the second floor, calling back easily as she waved, "Thank you! You guys are the best."

Taking the steps two at a time, she was about to turn to head into Laxus' office when she caught the rest of the Raijinshu sitting together in the S-Class lounge overlooking the first floor of the hall. Changing her course, she leaned a hand on the wooden tabletop, smiling wide at Evergreen who had helped her do some Christmas shopping for her nakama and had a girl's date where they had their nails done at the spa Ever liked to go to to get away from the testosterone of her team. Hitting the Seith Mage's shoulder with her hip to get the tall man to scoot over to give her room to sit next to him, before speaking easily as she filled the space next to him; in a brilliant tactical move by the man, he only left her enough space to make her fit tight next to his body before he looked down at her from under his visor, voice playful and teasing, "What brings you up to our little corner of the guild, Cosplayer? Need someone to help you keep those cute little stockings up?," tongue lolling from his mouth.

He was rewarded by her melodic laughter, jiggling her chest with every little chuckle, which Bickslow had a perfect view of from his high vantage point before she elbowed his side good-naturedly. When her gaze turned to Freed and Ever, her voice was cheery and bright, "So Mira put me in charge of attire, among other things, and I was wondering if you three had any preferences. I figured that instead of having a million plain black suits and run of the mill dresses running around, Virgo could make some really killer custom outfits instead. I know that I can just bring Virgo out to talk to you about yours when you come over Ever, but I don't want to put you guys in something you hate since you'll have to stay in them until the parties over."

After a surprisingly easy discussion, Lucy had a design for both Bickslow and Freed's outfit for the night and a new found kinship with the two members of her nakama she really didn't get much of a chance to spend time with, much to the blonde's chagrin.

Saying her quick goodbyes and letting them know she would probably let them know in the next few days when she needed them to come over to try on the garments before walking to the closed thick door that held the Grinch himself away from all the holiday cheer. Without even a splinter of fear in her body, she turned the handle and pushed into his Scrouge-y sanctuary to force him into the festivities.

His deep rumbling baritone rang through the little room the moment her booted foot stepped through the door, giving the sweet mage a glare from behind his desk, "Nope. No. Whatever it is you're here for, Blondie, _no._ "

Unfazed by the gruff dismissal from the Lightning Mage, she quickly crossed the room to sit in the cushy chair on the other side of his, her legs gracefully crossed in front of her as she pulled the hem of her skirt down, but not before unintentionally flashing the older mage her tiny thong and her creamy thighs. Her voice was filled with an air of uncaring, upper-class tightness but her face held a sarcastic smirk and a fire in her eyes that Laxus hated to admit, even to himself, made his blood boil for the curvy blonde brave enough to waltz into his office during this time of year, "My dear fellow blonde, I need your expert lightning skills."

Narrowing his steely blue eyes at the Celestial Mage, he set the report in his hand on his desk before leaning back, his bulging arms stretching the purple of his dress shirt as he crossed them over his chest, his voice stern but the notes of curiosity didn't go by unnoticed by the now grinning woman staring at him, "My lightning skills aren't available for you until after New Years." Pausing a moment before adding, attempting to sound casual as he openly eyed her body, "But if they were, what would you need them for?"

"Lights, Big Man. I want you to be in charge of the light show Mira and Master want and since I can't think of anyone better suited for the job, I'm willing to bargain for your cooperation," standing to lean forward over his desk, her left palm gripping the edge of his desk as her voice dipped, luring the dragon into her game.

Mirroring her posture, he leaned forward, leaning on his elbows as he drawled lazily, trying to keep his focus on her face instead of her cleavage sitting eye level to him, "My cooperation, eh? And if I say no? What'll you do then, little angel?"

Casually checking her gold-tipped almond nails, her voice matching her actions as she sat on the edge of his desk, "Well, you see the thing is, if I can't convince you to help, Master and Mira said they had a _plan_ set in motion to force you to help and I know you know how dangerous the two of them can be when their devious minds come together so I'll give you this offer as a means to save you from them, okay?"

Groaning at the mention of his ridiculous grandfather and the matchmaker coming together, he ran his hand through his blond hair before relenting, "Fine. What's your offer?"

Speaking excitedly as her hands gestured about in tandem with her words, "So in exchange for you helping me get all the lights up and set to music for the party and your attendance for the whole thing, no bowing out, I'm willing to waive all costume requirements as long as you wear your black dress pants and a white dress shirt. I feel like I should mention that Mira brought up the prospect of getting you in an old fashioned tuxedo costume, cummerbund and bowtie and all, which Gramps was a huge fan of..."

Resting his head in his hands, his voice was muted as he mumbled under his breath, all his very colorful insults directed the demon and his grandfather lost to the blonde before he lifted his head to meet her bright golden eyes, expectantly waiting for his response, "Fucking hell...I don't really have a choice here do I?"

"Nope. This is a 'lesser of two evils' thing and I feel like I don't have to say this but I'm going to anyway; I am the lesser of the two evils."

"Fine. I'll be your lights guy, Blondie."

Without really meaning to, Lucy all but squealed in his ear as she leaned over and hugged the brooding man, pushing her chest into his surprised face, "Thankyouthankyouthankyousomuch! I'll probably be back tomorrow early to start planning everything and hanging lights while the guild is empty. Is five too early?"

With his head cradled in the valley of her breasts, he couldn't think straight so he agreed to the ungodly hour in an effort to remove her from his office before she saw the tenting of his black slacks. The huge toothy smile he was rewarded with blew him away as she skipped out of his office, tossing a sweet, "See you tomorrow, Big Man!," at him and closing the door to his office. Left in with a raging hard on and a pit in his stomach at the little minx getting him to participate in the holiday season, which he hadn't celebrated since he was a child.

The brilliant smile and cheery eyes on the blondes face as she stepped from Laxus' office didn't go unnoticed by the trio of mages of the S-Class lounge who were staring at her with open astonishment and gaping mouths, the proper Rune Mage included as she bounced down the steps to lean over the bar to talk to Mira excitedly.

She tried to keep her voice even but as soon as her eyes met the glistening blue of the sisterly mage behind the bar, Lucy gushed to the silver haired woman, "You'll never guess what I just managed to do, Mira-chan. I just got Scrouge himself to agree to help me with the decorations and dress in a mildly formal outfit while he attends the entirety of the party! Can you believe that?!"

Smiling warmly to the blonde, Mira's voice was light but unsurprised, "That's wonderful news, Lucy. I'm sure it didn't take very much convincing to get him to agree to your demands."

Hearing a heavy scoff come from the Poison Slayer to her right, she turned to face him, raising a brow at the loud, incredulous noise, her voice accusing, "Something funny, Pretty boy?"

Giving her a devilish, knowing, toothless grin, Lucy almost felt nervous for what he was about to say, "Oh, I just think it's funny that you lied to Spark Plug to twist him into thinking that the alternate to agreeing to your terms were far worse for him." Nodding in the demon's direction, his continued, "and to use her to do it? Brilliant and devious, Bright Eyes. I'm impressed."

His eye widened as he heard the Takeover Mage's thoughts and the Celestial Mage took advantage of his momentary distraction, "Impressed enough to come to the party? It wouldn't be the same without you scaring the other mages with your acidic glares and witty remarks."

Leaning back on the stool, his hands moving in a motion to portray a 'oh hell no' sentiment before his deep voice drew from his chest, "There is absolutely no fuckin' way. Not even you could get me-" He stopped at the flash of an image that popped into the blonde's head.

With a knowing look, she sauntered over to the Slayer, a hand trailing across the back of his hand as she spoke lowly, "I know _exactly_ the way to get you to sit your ass on that barstool on New Years eve during the party."

Narrowing his eye dangerously at the tricksy woman, snatching her hand in his but with a care to not hurt her, his voice a whisper dancing over her ear, "Careful, Bright Eyes. I don't think you want to be making promises you can't keep."

Instead of struggling or crumbling like he expected, he felt her fingertips run along the curves of his palm as she turned her head, her breath light and airy as it fluttered through his soft maroon hair, "I don't ever make promises I can't keep, Pretty boy."

Letting her go reluctantly, he returned to nursing his deadly cocktail as he grunted under his breath, "Fine, I'll be there but you better deliver."

Backing away from the bar, her voice teasing as she sing-songed, "I'll see you at the party, Erik."

Smirking when she heard his throaty chuckles from behind her back as she walked back over to her team's usual table. Lucy was having a really good day and she knew her team was only going to make it better. As she sat down between Wendy's giggling frame and Erza's armored figure, she waited until after the Requip Mage had finished the last bite of her cake before asking the two women earnestly, "So here's the thing lovely ladies, I'm in need of some serious assistance and I know you two are perfect for the job."

Erza's serious voice was low but earnest as she responded to her teammates words, "Assistance? What what, Lucy?"

Giving the red-headed mage a huge smile as she answered simply, "Shopping." Earning her little squeals of bubbling joy from the Sky Dragon Slayer and a very painful sort of hug from Erza, both only making her chest sore as she looped her arm through theirs to grab their coats from the closet and head downtown to do some serious decision making.

xXx

With an ungodly amount of reluctance, Laxus woke up balls ass early the next morning to meet the little Celestial Mage to set up her ridiculous lights for her ridiculous New Years party. When he managed to roll up to the guild doors fifteen minutes late, he felt a pang of guilt as he noticed the curvy frame of Lucy's body, wrapped up tightly in a thick woolen coat, her fluffy pink scarf tucking her ears away from the freezing temperatures of Magnolia on the 26th of December, her breath puffing away as her golden eyes brightening as she took in the fur-trimmed coat the Lightning Mage was famous for. He was pointedly silent as he closed the gap between them, ignoring the warmth that was spreading through his chest as he could feel her eyes on his face.

Her bright cheery voice would have been irritatingly grating in his head if it wouldn't be for the fact that it was _her_ voice, and that almost irritated him more, as he unlocked the door.

"Good morning, Sparky, I brought you some coffee. It's just the way you like it; black, lots of sugar." Adding quickly with a blush rushing across the creamy skin of her face, when she noticed his raised brow and quirked grin, "I mean, Mira told me how you liked it because she always made me take it to you...and I know how much you hate waking up early." This only raised his brow even higher. Smacking her forehead with her free gloved hand, she added quietly, "That isn't creepy, Laxus. I never see you in the guild before noon so you can't look at me like that for being observant."

Pushing the door open and holding an arm out to let her head inside first, his voice still raspy with sleep, "I can look at you however I want, Blondie. Not only did you make me get up before the fucking sun, you made me do it to decorate for a holiday I despise. As far as you're concerned, you're pretty much enemy number one."

Handing the surly man his coffee and headed to the closet behind the bar to take off her winter gear. When she came from around the corner, running her hands through her long golden waves to clear out the static, she completely missed the Lightning Mages onceover of her frame. The thin material of her white thermal was doing nothing the hide the lace outline of her dark blue bra, the tight stretchy material of her leggings hugging every curve of her shapely legs, as she spoke to him, "I was thinking maybe we could do like all of those really soft glowing little strands covering most of the beams to give the guild hall a glow," sweeping her arms widely before turning to face him, her smile wide as her hair fanned out around her, "Do you think we could get up there to wrap them tightly?"

Clearing his throat bruskly, he turned his attention to the ceiling before answering the hopeful woman, "I think there's a ladder in the basement. I'll grab it and you start untangling the lights."

Turning to the storage room, she answered brightly, "You got it, boss man."

Twenty minutes later, Laxus returned with a very rickety looking ladder. Lucy had managed to untangle most of the strings of clear lights before looking up to eye the old wooden ladder in his hands skeptically, "Well that does not produce large amounts of confidence."

Chuckling darkly as he sat it up on end, "Oh it gets better, sweetheart."

Looking up at the towering man with an even stare, "I don't like the sound of that."

After he set the four legs on even ground, he turned to her, voice casual as he gestured up the tall rungs, "Okay. Get up there and do your lights."

Her voice incredulous as she stood and put a hand on her hip, "Nonononono, I am _not_ going up there."

Putting his hands over his chest, he gave her a small shrug before drawling, "Fine. I'll go put this back downstairs and you can figure out a new plan for your lights because this thing isn't hold going to hold me up."

Walking in front of him and turning to look up the rungs herself with a look of serious consideration before turning back to Laxus. Poking him in the chest very adamantly, her voice questioning as she looked up at him, "You'll hold this like your life depends on it?"

Rolling his blue-grey eyes down to meet hers, scoffing out, "Blondie, my life does depend on it. If anything happens to you under my watch, the line to murder me will reach Crocus."

Nodding her head as she starting throwing strands of lights over her shoulder, mumbling under her breath, "Well, I don't know if that's actually reassuring but these lights are going up on those rafters," mustering up her courage as she grabbed the ladder, her voice lighter than before, "Plus, you'll catch me before I hit the ground, right?"

"Yeah, I got you. Lightning fast reflexes remember?"

Making her way up the rungs, spoke to herself as she ascended, "I feel a little better with you at the bottom than just about anyone else."

Not really knowing what to do with that information, he instead opted to watch her very nice ass shimmy up the shaky piece of equipment, suddenly very thankful for the guild hall being empty so he could do so without the prying eyes of his grandfather and the matchmaker.

Three hours, two close calls and one abnormally smiling Dragon Slayer later, Lucy climbed down the ladder for what she hoped to be the last time ever in her life and sent the Lightning Mage a megawatt smile as she spoke breathy and cheerful, "Okay, now all you have to do, is figure out how to get all those," pointing to the hundreds of little glass bulbs, "to come on simultaneously without blowing the power."

Helping her down off the last step, Laxus' voice was lazy as he reassured her, "Don't you worry about that. I'll make sure all your twinkling lights stay bright over your head."

Poking his forehead with one dainty finger as a Cheshire cat grin split her face, "Our heads, my fellow blonde, our heads."

Both blondes turned their heads at the sound of the guild's front door opening, one bundled Takeover Mage stepping through. Lucy's voice was sweet as walked to greet Mira, "Good morning, Mira-chan! You're just in time for our test run so take off your jacket and join me at the bar please." Pushing the hulking man towards the end of the string of lights, pointing in an animated fashion as she whispered to him, "Go! Do your thing and make this place shine," pausing briefly before tacking on, sugary sweet, "please."

xXx

After a few more hours of scheming between the two women and getting roped into way more decorating than he signed up for, their guild mates started filtering through the door finally giving him the chance to escape up into the safety of his office under the guise of paperwork to get done and absolutely not because he was running away from the two females.

The Celestial Mage giggled as she watched the fur-trim disappear behind his door, turning to elbow the silver haired beauty and pointing towards the door, her voice teasing, "Looks like the strongest mage in all of Fiore can't handle a couple of bombshell ladies and some mundane tasks."

Mira gave her own little giggle before heading behind the bar to start serving lunch as Lucy felt a heavy arm fall around her shoulders.

Turning to see who held the familiar cedar wood scent, she was met by the huge grin of the guild's resident pervert and acrobat, his voice deep but full of mirth as he asked, "Damn, Cosplayer, what'd you do to the boss to have him running scared into his office already?"

Returning Bickslow's easy smile with her own, she gave a flippant hand gesture as she teased, "Oh, you know, the usual scary things; waking up early, helping people, socializing with his guild mates, socializing at all really..."

"Tough break for him, but I know if you and I ever got to spend some time alone, I wouldn't be running and hiding," lolling his tongue out as he squeezed her shoulders.

Joking with the Seith Mage, she easily countered, "No, that'd probably be my job," as she snaked a hand around his thinner but unbearably toned and hardened waist and squeezed back.

Taking the opportunity he had beside him, Bickslow escorted her all the way to the S-Class stairs before she stopped and put a hand on his chest, her voice low as she tilted her head, her long waves dipping lower, "Why don't you ever just hang out with the rest of the guild, Bix?"

Her sudden inquiry took him by surprise as his brain stuttered a little before speaking cautiously, as if a wrong answer would cause the blonde to flee in earnest, "I, uh, well...I guess after everything that went down, we just got used to staying away from everyone and no one invited us down here so we just...stayed put."

Frowning for a moment, which made the older mage to squirm at the foreign expression on the bubbly woman, before her face brightened. She gave the towering man a few pats, her voice sly and lilting as she smirked at him, turning his insides to mush, "Well, what do you say, Bickslow? Would you care to join me for lunch?"

Clearing his throat, his voice was tight for a moment before relaxing into an easy tone, "Uh, yeah. Sure, Cosplayer." His babies twisting and twirling around them as they chirped before echoing their mage, "Cosplayer!" "Cosplayer!"

"But first, two things; One, I'm going to need you to do something about this," gesturing to his face with her free hand tucked below her outstretched arm, her hip cocked out, "and two; I want to know about these adorable little babies. I've been dying to ask you for...well, forever, so like, face thingy and the babies. Please."

Suddenly turning serious, the Seith Mage pulled down his hood, letting his usually unruly hair free, but staying matted down from it's containment as he pulled the little blondes hand from his chest, "The visor stays on, Cosplayer."

Giving him a small thoughtful smile, she stepped up the first two steps and tugged the extremely tall mage closer. Running her hands through his hair to get it to stand up like it had been when she saw it when he and Laxus worked out at the guild's gym, her voice equally as small and thoughtful, "You've got yourself a deal, Bix." She traced the cold, well-made metal with her fingertips, noticing the finely etched patterns on the visor now that she was close enough to be able to, before turning and heading towards the bar to order lunch, Bickslow and his babies close behind.

Lucy couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much in her life than in the hour she ended up just talking with the Seith Mage before Laxus called her back up to his office. With a chaste peck to Bickslow's cheek, delicious blush spreading from where her lips made contact with his skin, she spoke a cheery goodbye before throwing back to him, loud enough the rest of the guild heard, "And you're always invited to have lunch with me, Bix, so don't be a stranger!," then turning and practically bouncing up the stairs to see what the broody man could possibly want.

Bickslow turned back around, he muttered under his breath, low enough he thought no one heard, "Holy fucking hell..."

When he heard the Poison dragon's low voice respond, he jumped a little, "Yeah, Bright Eyes does that to you and she has absolutely no fucking clue."

Back up on the second floor, Lucy walked into the little office, surprised to see Erza and Gray seated in front of his desk, Natsu leaning on the wall off to the side. The Fire Slayer's face brightened when he saw her, his voice loud and rich, "Luce! You'll never guess what Laxus did."

"Grew a sense of humor?," she quipped cheekily, giving the older mage a wink before walking next to her best friend.

"Hah hah, Blondie. Unfortunately not this time," the blonde drawled from behind his desk, mouth even though he wanted to smirk at her.

Erza cut in as she once again crushed the Celestial Mage into her breastplate, this time Lucy was sure she cracked some part of her skull as she spoke, "We have to take the first train to Sabertooth to inform them of your party. Master Sting isn't answering any of Laxus' calls, which has Master concerned. We leave in half an hour. I'll meet you all at the train station then and we are treating this as a job so pack what you'd need for one."

The blonde beauty gave Natsu's arm a reassuring pat when she heard him groan from beside her at the mention of the train, her voice calm and gentle, "Don't worry, you can lay your head in my lap the whole ride. I'll even play with your hair like you like." When he gave her a toothy grin in response, she turned back to Erza to ask, "It's only, like a two hour ride ride, right?"

"Yes, but we then have to make the hike up to the guild hall. Which is halfway up Mount Kaerimasu. That walk is going to be just as long as the train ride."

"Great. I better get back home and get to packing my cold weather stuff if I'm going to have to hike up a friggin' mountain in December."

She watched as the rest of her team stood to leave, Gray turning around just before he walked through the doorway, his deep voice questioning, "You coming, Lucy?"

Giving him a smile and a quick wave of her hand, "Oh yeah, I just have to tell Laxus about the rest of the party decorations. Will you wait for me? Plue's been asking about you..."

Shooting her an easy grin at the little spirit's mention, he gave her a quick nod and headed downstairs.

The deep rumbling baritone jumped her attention back to the Lightning dragon, "What in the hell more could you possibly have for me to do, Blondie?"

Closing the space between them, she ducked her head beside him, her voice lilting and sweet, "Nothing. I just wanted to say thank you for helping me and not letting me die this morning," wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders in an earnest hug, before pulling back and smirking at the powerful mages wide steely eyes, "So thanks, Laxus. I'll let Mira know you're off the hook until the 31st so she should stay out of your hair. Of course, you could join the rest of our nakama every now and then in until then." Ruffling his hair as if he were a child, earning the little woman a halfhearted glare from him before she turned to leave his office. His very quiet 'You're welcome' only widened her smile as she waved the Devil Slayer down.

Quickly handing her the wool coat and her pink scarf, they made their way towards her apartment.

Calling Plue out so he could see Gray, he gave the Ice Mage a little wiggle and excited child-like 'uppy' motions. When the buff, shirtless man picked him up and set him on his shoulder, he gave little 'pun pun' chirps to his Celestial Mage who giggled lightly before speaking to her teammate, "Plue would like to see your magic. He has requested a little cat like Frosch, Rogue's exceed." Patting her spirits head gently, she cooed at him, "And what do you say to Gray, Plue?"

Looking up at Gray expectantly, he added, "Pun!"

"There you go!" Looking into Gray's deep blue eyes, smile toothy as she added, "He says please."

In a flash of his magic, he held up a little frog suited cat, just like Frosch, and handed to the wiggling spirit, the very fast and enthusiastic 'pun pun's were obvious to the Ice Mage as he chuckled under his breath, "You're welcome, little man. Maybe you can show Frosch when we get to Sabertooth if you take good care of him until we get there."

Using his free paw to hug the side of his head, he turned to chirp as Lucy, his arms outstretched to sit in her arms.

Picking her Little Dog spirit up and hugging him to her chest, she turned to look over the naked torso of her long-time friend, not noticing for the first time just how well ripped he was and just how good he looked with his new tattoo, before clearing her own throat and attempting to speak clearly, "Do you really think anything is wrong at Sabertooth?"

Shrugging his shoulder, he turned to look at her flushed face, small grin split his lips before he answered coolly, "Naw, I think Sting's an idiot who can't keep track of his comm lacrima."

Letting out a choked laugh of surprise, she smacked his arm playfully, "Gray! You can't just call the Master of a guild...well actually, now that I think about it, you're probably right. I get regular calls from Yuki and Rogue about getting help with the guild's finances and paperwork because Sting has no idea what he's doing when it comes to records."

Narrowing his eyes out of confusion, he tilted his head to her, his voice low and questioning, "Why would they call you and not Laxus?"

Rolling her golden eyes, she looked down at Plue's little happy face before answering easily, "Well Laxus never answers the calls that come from Sabertooth and I usually spend every Sunday helping him with Fairy Tail's paperwork."

"You do?"

"Mmhmm, half the time it's because of Team Natsu and I have years of classes that seem to fit flawlessly into running a guild, so it just made sense for me to help." Stopping in front of her apartment, she gave Gray a quick hug before opening her door and calling back to him, "Thanks for walking me home and for making Plue his little Frosch! I'll see you in a little bit," as she disappeared up the stairs.

Pulling her door shut behind him, he ran his hand through his raven hair before heading to his place to pack for their impromptu trip.

xXx

The train ride was relatively calm aside from Natsu's occasional groan when the cabin rocked from the winds, which Lucy immediately soothed with careful ministrations of her fingers running along his scalp. When the blonde looked up at the mountain from its base, she let out her own very pathetic groan before trudging ahead of her team, yelling back to them, her voice full of disappointment, "Let's get up this huge fucking mountain as fast as possible. I'm already froze just looking at it."

She called Horologium out halfway through the hike and thankfully she had timed it just right that he was sent back just before they reached the guild doors. Bursting through the doors, Natsu's booming, rich timbre echoed through their hall as the three other members of Team Natsu stepped through around him, "What's up Saberkitties!"

Yukino happened to be sitting at the closest table and as soon as she laid eyes on her blonde Celestial counterpart, her face lit up and she ran to be wrapped in a tight hug, her voice happy and bright, "Lu! What on Earthland are you doing here? I thought for sure you'd be busy planning your party."

As the shorter woman tried to pull back, the pair was wrapped in a set of very toned arms, Sting's voice right next to Lucy's ear as he nuzzled into her hair, "Blondie! Have you decided to run away from that pink headed idiot and join my guild?"

Before she could still her laughter at his antics, Natsu had unceremoniously plucked her from his arms tucked her under his arm, his voice hot but firm, "No, Luce is _my_ partner. Go find your own."

Poking the Fire Mage's ticklish side causing his grip on her to loosen, she side stepped his embrace before mumbling under her breath, "Weirdo territorial dragon..."

When her golden eyes landed on Rogue's inky black ponytail, she all but tackled the poor mage, breathless from the sprint in all her layers, her voice muffled into the fabric covering his toned back, "Ryos! Where's Frosch?"

Chuckling at her lack of actual greeting, her turned to face her, Frosch smiling wide as soon as he heard his second favorite persons voice, "Thank gods you decided to visit. Frosch thought you didn't like him anymore."

Giving the adorable exceed little eskimo kisses, earning little giggles from him as she cooed at him, "That would never happen, Cutie Pie. I love you too much to ever stay away from you for too long."

She felt a small tug on her pants. Looking down to see Lector's little embarrassed face as he held up a huge white dahlia for her.

Picking the vested exceed up with a little halfhearted noise of protest, she plucked the flower from his hand and hugged him into her chest tightly, her voice warm as she thanked him, "This is beautiful, Lector. Thank you so much!"

As Sting and Natsu started their normal brawl when they saw each other, Rogue's deep voice cut through her cooing, "Not that we are upset that you decided to visit, but why are you here?"

Erza, being distracted by the two dragons in the throes of a fist fight, missed the question completely so Gray stepped up so answer easily, "Laxus tried to get a hold of Sting to let him know that Sabertooth is invited to Fairy Tail's New Years Eve party, but his calls weren't answered so he sent us to make sure nothing happened to you guys."

Letting out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, the Shadow Slayer answered dryly, "That's because our illustrious Master has no idea were his comm lacrima is. I should inform Laxus that I keep mine on me at all times so the next time he needs to get a hold of us, he should just call me."

Tilting his head towards Lucy casually, shit-eating toothless grin curling his mouth as he gave her an 'I told you so' look.

She gave him a little shake of her head and a light chuckle before rubbing Rogue's arm to comfort the poor man, "It must be hard to keep him in line, Ryos."

Smirking down at the golden haired beauty, he drawled to her, deep voice sending shivers down her back, "You have no idea, Lucy."

"LULU! What are you doing here?"

When she turned her head to see the massive Lightning God, his huge smile beaming at her as he outstretched his hulking tattooed arms, she sat Lector down on the bar and with a quick pat to his head, she ran into his open arms. Spinning her before putting the curvy woman down, he kept an arm on her lower back as her to a table, speaking with his booming baritone excitedly, "What brings my favorite blonde to our neck of the woods?"

Sting's very disgruntled, 'Hey!' sounded from the ball of dragon slayers tumbling around the floor of his guild, before Lucy chuckled and patted his forearm, the smile on her face reaching her eyes and voice easily, "The New Years party of course!" Pausing to glance at Sting and Natsu quickly before tacking on, "well that and Sting's lack of regard for inter-guild relations."

When the noises of their brawl suddenly stalled, the blonde was a little surprised to see Erza looming over both the mages unconscious bodies before smiling at the Memory Make Mage who filled the spot across from her, getting into a deep conversation with the group of Saber's when Yukino and Rogue walked over to sit with her. Frosch and Lector quickly crossing the hall to climb into her lap after she removed her winter gear.

Gray ducked his head towards the red headed Requip Mage, his voice low and confused, "Since when does Sabertooth's mages have such a good relationship with our Lucy?"

Narrowing her brown orbs towards the table, she answered with a stern voice that left no room for argument, "You know how magnetic she is, but I sense any of them have ill-intentions towards her, I will not hesitate to act."

Giving a firm nod as he stepped over Natsu's drooling body, they took up the empty bench on their Celestial Mages right, her bright smile greeting them as she pulled them into the conversation.

* * *

~REVIEW MY PRETTIES! I'm dying to know who you want her with ^.^

Thank you thank you! -kendraleaanne~


	2. Chapter 2

~TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY? I know, right? XD

So here would be chappie number two. Leave me your reviews, your thoughts, your votes. Please please please!~

* * *

While the mages were distracted by their sudden reunion, a blizzard was building outside that was sure to keep the mages of Fairy Tail stuck on Mount Kaerimasu overnight.

"You have to tell me what your theme is, Lu-chan! I have to be dressed properly and I know you and Virgo always have something up your sleeves," Yukino, in a thick light blue sweater with white patterns along the collar, spoke excitedly as she bounced next between Rufus and Rogue, jostling both the men and earning the little Celestial Mage small unnoticed smiles from the brotherly mages.

Rogue's smooth voice added as he watched Lucy rub his exceed's pink covered stomach, making the little kitten purr loudly as he cuddled further into her own light pink cashmere covered chest, "You are going to have a theme party for New Years?"

As if it pained her to peel her bright eyes from the sleepy green exceed, she quickly brightened her smile as she looked between the two, her eyes turning scheming as she leaned forward, careful not to wake the two cats in her lap, before her voice dropped low and she looked left and right as if she were telling them classified secrets of the kingdom, having to tuck her long hair behind her ears so the ends didn't tickle her little babies, even though pretty much the whole guild was gathered around the table and would hear anyway, "It's going to be a masquerade. Which you would have known if Sting answered his calls," giving the White Dragon a pointed but teasing look as she leaned on her chin in the palm of her hand.

Rolling his shining blue eyes at her dig, he drawled lazily from the end of the table, his hand toying with his new white quartz earring, "I would have answered if I had my lacrima. It's not my fault it never stays put."

Chuckling under her breath as she raised a brow to Sabertooth's Master, "That's what you're going with, Blondie? The comms lacrima grew legs and...what? Walked away?"

Orga's heavy, muscled arm draped over her shoulders as his booming laughter filled the hall, leaning the pair of mages closer to the bristled Slayer, giving his Master a smirk as he teased, "Probably ran the fuck away from him. I know I would." The little giggles that rang out from the woman snug at his side made his smile widen further.

"I haven't been to a masquerade in years, Miss Lucy. It should be a very entertaining evening with all the mages of Fiore hidden away behind masks, unrecognizable as the New Year rolls in and everyone searches for their first kiss to set the tone of the upcoming year," the Memory Make Mage had long since taken off his hat, his mask framing his deep, forest green pools shining as his handsome toothless smile spread across his face.

Lucy's eyes sparkled as she pictured all the wonderful unique masks all looking up at her crystal, soft lighting, her voice dreamy as spoke, "I know right? The mystery of it all makes it so sexy, almost dangerous. It get's my blood boiling just thinking about all the wonderful costumes, eyes shining from behind masks, everyone hunting for that special, lucky, one to kiss at the stroke of midnight," practically melting over the table.

Both Celestial Mages let out girlish breathy sighs at the romantic notion. Their moment was quickly ruined by the low grumbling of the Fire Slayer who had just woken up from Erza's clobbering, his voice raspy and confused, "Luce? Why do I feel like I was hit by a train?" The poor confused pinkette was holding his forehead with the palm of his hand as his heavy lidded onyx orbs searched for the blonde from the floor of the hall.

Giving her best friend a small smile, she gently cradled Lector and Frosch as she stood, giving them back to their respective Slayer's before kneeling next to Natsu's body the same time he leaned up on his elbow, her voice soft and lilting as she brushed his hair out of his face, "Erza actually, so I think next time you should take on the train instead."

Shooting the Requip mage a glare as he continued to rub the goose egg on top of his head, "Why the hell did you hit me so hard, Erza?"

Flipping her hair casually over her shoulder, her voice was lacking any remorse as she answered flatly, "You and _Master Sting_ were rolling around the guild hall like a couple of children and it was distracting me from my duties so I put a stop to it. I can't help if your fragile skull can't handle my methods."

Whispering low in his ear as she helped him up, her left hand bracing his back while her right sat splayed over the hard ridges of his abs, his body leaning heavily against her small frame, "Don't worry about it, Natsu. I'll make sure the train ride back is easy for you. I brought that book about the stories behind the constellations you like, so I can read it to you the whole time."

Gray's voice cut through as a blustery wind swept the hall, making the mages all simultaneously turn and glare at the Ice Mage, before he slammed the door shut, "The train we will have to take tomorrow. That is, if the snow stops in time."

Frosch's little frame waddled over to the blonde after Rogue set him down from his lap, his paw rubbing his eye adorably as he called up to her, "Does this mean we are having a sleepover? Fro wants to sleep with Mama Lucy and Papa Rogue," giving the giggling woman puppy dog eyes the size of the sun.

Yukino and the redhead were stifling giggles as Orga and Rufus shared a mutual look of ' _Papa...Mama...what the hell?_ ' before taking in the Shadow Slayers bright blush and letting their own chuckles out at his obvious embarrassment.

Setting Natsu down on a bench, shaking her head as the Fire Mage quickly sprawled out across it, before crouching in front of Frosch, her voice light as she poked his nose with a bright smile on her face, "You'll have to ask Master Sting if we can have a sleepover in the guild first, Sweetie."

The White Slayer gave her a smirk, his arms crossed over his barely covered chest cradling his own exceed, as he watched the little exceed's pink frog suit walk over to him, his paws behind his back as he looked up from beneath his hood, his little voice cheerful as he asked, "Sting-kun, can we have a sleepover because of the snow? We can move the tables and everyone can stay here in a big, cuddly pile and Frosch can sleep with Mama Lucy."

Before he could answer, Lector's little voice called from his arms, "Me too! Mama Lucy's chest is way more comfortable than my bed," looking up to his Slayer with puppy eyes that rivaled Frosch's as he added, "Please, can we have a sleepover?"

His easy, carefree timbre was filled with mirth as he answered, "It seems I don't have much of a choice. So let's go grab all the pillows and blankets we can while you Fairies clear the tables to make room. Sound good, Little buddy?"

Nodding enthusiastically, the red exceed jumped down to take Frosch's hand and lead him to his room at the back of the guild to get their pillows and blankets. Quickly following the adorable pair, the rest of Sabertooth got up and in a chorus of high-pitched giggles, low chuckles and all out belly laughs, took turns patting the Shadow Slayer on the back as the bright red blush from his exceed's 'Mama Lucy and Papa Rogue' statement spread to the tips of his ears at his guild's actions.

When he took in the warm honeyed vanilla scent that filled his senses as the amber eyed beauty popped in front of him, her voice lilting and sweet as her head tilted, her golden waves shimmering under the Christmas lights they had yet to take down, "I don't think I said hi earlier," absently feeling the silk of his gold and black kimono as a beaming toothy smile split her lips, "so, hey."

Giving the little woman an earnest lopsided grin, his deep, naturally smooth as velvet voice spilling from his lips as he crossed his toned arms over her broad chest, "Hello, Lucy."

"Have I told you how good you look with your hair back because damn, you look good with your hair pulled back," patting his chest with a cheeky wink as she continued, "and you don't have to be embarrassed, Papa Rogue, I think it's adorable that Frosch sees us that way." Pausing to give the man a thoughtful look before adding, "Though, you do look equally as adorable as your exceed all flushed and flustered," crinkling her nose adorably up at him.

Muttering under his breath as she all but skipped over to the mostly naked Ice Mage to help him move tables, "Right, and I'm supposed to sleep next her tonight. Stellar," before turning to follow the rest of his guild, meeting the devious grinning face of their own Celestial Mage with a heavy sigh.

After they had pushed most of the tables to the side, Lucy called Virgo out and after the maid bowed and asked for punishment, she shook her head and asked, voice light, "No punishment but I do need some pajamas for myself and my team, if you had anything we could wear."

"Titania, the Fire Prince, and the Ice Prince are all in need? I thought you packed for a mission, Princess?," the pinkette asked earnestly as her head tilted to the side, her face tight with confusion.

Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly as she answered quietly, "Well we did, but we ran across a a Vulcan on the way up and it trashed Erza's wagon which had all our things on it..."

"Why wouldn't you call me out to hold your things like usual, Princess?"

"Well you're so busy with all the costumes for the party and I didn't want to bother you when we could carry our own things. It seems the sentiment was pointless anyway though," chuckling halfheartedly as she smiled to her maid spirit, the thick woolen socks twisted as she dug her toe into the stone floor.

Patting the blondes head affectionately as she gave her a toothless smile, Virgo bowed before disappearing to grab the clothes for her mage and her teammates.

Gray drawled coolly, not successfully hiding the scoff in his voice, from where he had leaned against the table behind her, his muscular arms crossed over his chest, "Fire Prince?"

Throwing a brotherly punch the Devil Slayer, Natsu's voice followed his easily, his fangs glistening from where they poked from beneath his lip, "Ice Prince?"

The Celestial Mage turned back to face them, giving the two men a fond smile before answering playfully, "You should hear what she calls Gajeel, Cobra and Laxus. My spirits play favorites tough, especially when it comes you Slayers. It's kind of weird actually."

Sting's play-hurt voice rang throughout the hall as the Fairies turned to take in the Sabers, their arms bursting with all sorts of blankets, pillows and bedrolls, "What Rogue and I aren't in the running because we aren't in your guild? I'm hurt, Blondie, truly. You wound me."

Lucy's scoff echoed off the walls but before she could shoot the handsome dragon a reply, Virgo popped back in, bowing to give the members of Sabertooth a very healthy dose of her ruffled panties, her voice even as usual, "I hope these will suit you well. Though I don't see the point in putting clothes on the Ice Prince with his unusual stripping habit."

As a cough sounded from somewhere behind the Maiden, she turned to take in Sabertooth's mages, her face deadpanning as she looked at the smiling face of White Dragon Slayer, voice dropping to emotionless monotone, "The Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, wonderful."

Leaning towards Gray and Natsu, the little blonde beauty held her hand up to her mouth to whisper to them behind the Maiden spirit's back, "Sting is her least favorite Slayer. Don't ask me why though, she never tells me anything; just gets weirdly sarcastic. Though she did say she would like Rogue more but he's always with Sting so it's a guilty by association thing for her."

The wild salmon hair of the Fire dragon leaned towards her heart-shaped face, not caring that Gray was wedged between them, his voice low as he whispered back, "I still want to know what she calls Laxus, Gajeel and Cobra."

Virgo's eyes sparkled as she practically swooned at the mention of the three older dragons, her voice dreamy, "Master Gajeel knows how to properly punish my Princess and his majesties, the Lightning King and His Highness, know how to treat a lady to make my Princess a queen. Big Brother has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to our Lucy-sama and who she needs to be with."

The rest of the mages had dissolved into a fit of belly laughter as the Slayers looked at the pinkette spirit owlishly. All in varying states of surprise before Virgo turned to face her laughing, teary-eyed mistress, "If that will be all, I'll be getting back to finish Master Bickslow's costume."

Erza sputtered from beside her through her giggles, giving Lucy an incredulous look, "M-master Bickslow?!"

The blonde just shook her head and gave half a shrug before hugging her spirit and taking their pajamas from her arms, saying her goodbye to the endearingly honest pinkette. With a small mile on her face, she turned to hand the bundles of soft cloth out to her team.

Grabbing Erza's wrist, she pulled the redhead to Sabertooth's female bathrooms, pointing to the male bathroom as she called over her shoulder to the boys, "That's your bathroom so get to changing. I have cuddles waiting for me."

As she stripped down out of her layers in the cavernous stone bathroom, the Requip mage asked curiously while she unhooked her armor, "Lucy, how did you come to be so close with the mages of Sabertooth?"

Pausing for a moment as she stood in her dark blue lacy matching bra set, the low cut of the thick bands of lace hugging the curve of her hip perfectly, the blonde shrugged a shoulder before stepping into an adorable frog onesie just like Frosch's, her voice was an attempt at light but sadness laced through her words, "When you all left, I didn't really have anywhere to go and Jason didn't care where I was as long as my stories were on time so when I visited Yuki, she invited me to stay with her here and I said yes. A lot of things can happen in a year, people change, relationships grow...and they were here for me when my nakama couldn't be."

Pulling on her own black cat onesie, Erza roughly tugged her sisterly mage into a tight hug, which Lucy had to admit, was actually nice without her chest piece to leave bruises and cracked bones in it's wake as she apologized, "I'm so sorry Lucy, I should have made sure you were okay after the guild disbanded."

Squeezing the mage before pulling back and gathering her clothes, the Celestial Mage smiled to the redheaded woman, genuine and forgiving, before she grabbed her hand, her voice matching her smile, "I was fine without you all so there's no need to apologize, Erza. Did I miss you? Yes. Did I blame you? No. And it doesn't matter anyway because we are back together and we are about to have a massive bonding experience with our fellow guilds of Fiore so you can make new friendships, too," her golden eyes sparkled as she looked up at the misty-eyed Requip Mage before leading her back out to the hall.

The moment Rogue's exceed saw her pajama's, his little face lit up and he ran over her as fast as his little legs could carry him, holding his arms out to let her know he wanted picked up. When he was secured in her arms, he quickly scrambled to pull her hood up so he could see the eyes that matched his own hood, her long golden waves reaching her hips as she pulled them forward from beneath the pink fabric.

The green exceed's voice was excited as he looked up at her from her chest, "Fro likes your sleep clothes, Mama."

Giving him feathery eskimo kisses, she hugged the exceed as she cooed back to him, "Me too, Sweetie. I think Virgo really out did herself-"

Finally looking up from Frosch's little green face, she almost crumpled into a heap of giggles as Gray and Natsu each had their own onesies on, the Devil Slayer's meant to look like Plue and Natsu's was a very convincing attempt to look like a crimson dragon, little spikes in a row from his hood all the way down to his long tail. Her voice was tight with laughter as she choked out, "Virgo might actually deserve a reward for this one. Dear Mavis, that is priceless."

The Fire dragon, literally, twisted and turned to look at the long tail that trailed behind him everywhere, his voice confused and angry, "What the fuck, Luce. Why can't I take this thing off?"

Snickers rang from the Sabers strewn about the floor at the sight of each of the Fairies in ridiculous footie pajamas. Gray's tired voice drawled before he flopped down on a sleeping mat, "I doubt they'll come off before tomorrow morning so shut the fuck up and lay down, Fire Princess."

Flopping on his stomach beside the larger than life-sized Plue in a heap, his voice sounded defeated and small as he pouted adorably, "I can't sleep on my back with this ridiculous tail..."

Erza stepped forward, completely in love with her new pajamas as they hugged her every curve perfectly, smirk quirking the corner of her lips as she easily offered, "I could always knock you out."

Sting, who had nestled himself into his own white fluffy bedroll between Yukino and where Lucy would be sleeping, called lazily as he pulled off his gloves and sat them off to the side, "Like he could afford to lose any more brain cells."

The younger Celestial Mage smacked the side of his head as she made her way to get to her own bedroll, voice soft as she rolled her eyes, "Like you have any room to talk."

Orga's deep baritone called out sarcastically from his own, much larger mattress, his arms tucked behind his head making his tattooed arms bulge, each of his hardened muscles defined perfectly, "Yeah, _Master,_ impress us with all your very numerous brain cells and they power they have. Better yet, why don't you let Titania knock you out a few more times."

Rolling over under his covers, he gave them all the bird before grumbling under his breath about being the Master of a guild of assholes, pulling sweet, melodic giggles from her lips.

Frosch's lilting voice drew her attention back down to his sleepy face, his hand outstretched to point to the bedroll next to the grumpy Master, "Fro will show you where we will sleep, Mama. Fro made sure to make it really comfy and soft for us."

Setting the little exceed down and rewarding him with a toothy grin, her voice fighting the tinge of weariness from the activities of the day and her early morning, "Lead the way, baby." Following the cheery cat to a wider than usual mat, deep black fluffy blanket covering the thick padding. Lucy's giggle bubbled from her chest as Frosch lifted the plush fabric and motioned her to follow him under the covers fervently.

Meanwhile, the redheaded Requip whispered threateningly into the ear of the Shadow Slayer watching the whole exchange from the other side of the room, "I will destroy you if you do anything to taint my Lucy's virtues," before taking the bedroll between the fast asleep Ice Make Mage and the hulking figure of the Thunder God, pulling the blanket up to her chin and falling asleep, as if she didn't just threaten him while wearing a cat onesie.

The blonde's sleepy voice rang out from their bedroll as she leaned up to look for the red fur and blue vest of Sting's exceed, "Lector? Are you sleeping with me and Fro?"

His little tired voice called out from across the hall as he rubbed his eye with his paw in a act of child-like weariness, "I don't know where you are."

Crouching down to rub hid ear between his fingers, "Here Lector, I'll take you over. Just let me get the lights first, okay?," the Shadow dragon soothed the exceed easily. Flipping the lights off and picking him up, Rogue effortlessly stepped over and around the sleeping bodies in the pitch black that settled over the guild to get to where the beautiful blonde was cuddled into his things.

As he settled himself and Lector under the covers, her lilting sleep-ridden voice filled the silence of the guild hall, "I'm a cuddler so I'm sorry if that bothers you, Ryos."

When he looked down to see her small smiling face, Frosch tucked in her hair at her neck, Lector laying face down over her bountiful chest, he answered quietly, "I doubt it will bother me, Lu. Goodnight." Her smiled widened at his words before the rise and fall of her chest evened out and she was asleep.

After he laid down beside her on his back, his hand behind his head, he felt her leg hitch over his own as her arm snaked around his and pulled him closer, making him chuckle low under his breath before his breathing evened out to sound of a roomful of steady inhales and exhales.

xXx

When Lucy woke up, she had made herself into another blanket, draped across the Shadow Slayers chest, enveloped in his masculine, soothing scent. Lector had moved to use the crook of her neck as a pillow as Frosch laid across Rogue's chest, forcing his head to lean on hers, his breath dancing through her hair and his arm wrapped around her waist. The sound of little snickers had her cracking an eye to see who was looming over her.

As if he could read her thoughts, his raspy gravelly morning voice rumbled through his chest without having to open his eyes, "It's Yukino and she lacks boundaries. Especially in the morning."

The Celestial Mage in his arms giggled at his obvious lack of love for the early hour of the morning, before his chest rumbled from beneath her again, "I think the first one hundred pictures you took will suffice, Yukino."

After one last snap and a little excited squeal, her very bubbly voice sighed out, "Fine, fine, but I am so keeping these forever. They are positively adorable." Half cooing to herself as she walked toward the breakfast table, "Just look at little Fro and Lector, you're like a real family."

"Dear Mavis, she's going to be unstoppable when she gets in cahoots with Mira and Sherry," Lucy grumbled under her breath just thinking about at the ridiculous matchmakers coming together under the same roof for the party with hearts in their eyes. Mira almost deflated completely when she told the older woman that she and Natsu were going to be each others date's but he didn't actually ask her as a romantic date.

"Why are you so loud Mama Lucy?," Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at Lector's obvious irritation at her being awake and interrupting the grumpy cat's sleep.

"Sorry, huney, but I have to get back home so I can get the party ready so I can see you on New Years Eve," scratching behind his little ear before sitting up on her forearms on the chiseled chest underneath her. Innocently pushing his loose raven strands out of the dragon's sleepy face, his eyes still closed as she started tracing the scar across his nose before she lowered her voice, soft and considerate, "I told you I was a cuddler."

Without thinking and without hesitation, he answered, "It definitely isn't bothering me."

Giggling as she sat up to stretch her back, careful of the little bodies of her fur babies, her voice breathy as her lungs expanded fully for the first time, "The mysterious Shadow Slayer is a closet-cuddler." Returning her gaze back to the man beside her before tacking on, "Huh, I should have guessed that."

Finally opening his deep ruby eyes, he took in the sigh of her arms high over her head, the curve of her chest pushed out as he asked curiously, "And why's that?"

Matter-of-factly stating with a shrug, "Because Gaj is a cuddler, too."

Sitting up on his elbow, unintentionally jostling the exceeds, earning little noises of protest, as his eyes widened at her easy words but before he could ask how she would possibly know that, Rufus' hand stretched down to help the Celestial Mage up from the floor, his voice smooth and regal, "Miss Lucy, we've made breakfast for you before you head out to make the early train back to Magnolia."

Shooting the dragon an easy smile before taking Rufus' outstretched hand, she didn't miss the look of shock stretched over the raven haired man's face. Once she was upright, she looped her arm in the Memory Make Mage's arm, her voice bright but questioning, "You know what I never understood?"

Leaning his head to look into her golden eyes, his voice easy and light as he answered, "This I'm curious to hear. Not much goes unknown to you, darling."

Hugging his arm playfully as she smiled up at him, "Flatterer," turning her head forward before continuing, "I couldn't figure out how you, Freed and I never met before we become official mages."

"Aside from age differences, you were kept separate from most other children as far as I know. My older brothers always spoke of you like you were a hidden prize, the lovely Heartfilia heiress who wasn't allowed to come out and play with the rest of society."

Tilting her head as her brows knitted together, her voice inquisitive, "You have brothers, Rufus?"

"Three older than me and a younger sister actually."

"Huh, how have you kept that from me for this long, you sly man," narrowing her eyes playfully as she teased her fellow blonde.

His airy laughter lifted her chest before he held his free arm out to offer her a seat next to the Lightning God. When he had pushed her chair in and turned to take his usual seat on the other side of the table, Lucy's dainty hand grabbed his, her smile wide as she motioned for him to sit next to her, voice lilting and light, "I'd like to hear more about your family if you didn't mind sharing with me."

Orga, whose wild mane of light green hair had pulled back in a loose ponytail between his bare, broad shoulders, his black headband sitting low on his forehead, rested his arm across the back of her chair to play with her tussled bed head, his deep voice raspy from sleep, drawled to the little blonde, "He must really like you if he's tellin' you about the Lore brood. Bunch of proper babies with sticks up their asses if you ask me."

"Now that's not true, Seraphine isn't so bad," the masked man at her side matched the Lightning mages easy drawl.

Scoffing as the behemoth man ducked low to whisper in her ear, "The youngest Lore sibling. She already loves you, Lulu."

Ducking her head to meet the large mages, her voice equally as low with mirth pulling at the edges of her words, "Why do you say that?"

Giving her a handsome grin that made her insides turn to goo, his voice deep and rumbling, "Because 'you're the most beautiful and amazing woman to ever get out of societies clutches'. That would be a direct quote from the teen aged child every time one of us mentions you, though she's not wrong," sending her a quick wink.

Giving the green haired man a playful smack and an eye roll, she turned her attention to Rufus, "Wow. She must have been fed lies by her older brothers," raising a brow playfully to the Memory Make Mage to her right.

Putting a hand on his chest in offense, his voice deceived his actions, "Miss Lucy, how you could slander not only me but yourself in such a flippant statement is beyond me," before grinning slyly down to the giggling mage.

xXx

After a very reluctant and drawn out goodbye, Lucy reassured Fro that she would see him in a few days and gave Lector a kiss to his furry little cheek, before she and the rest of Team Natsu made their way back down the mountain and to the train station to arrive back at the guild around noon.

The relief the Celestial Mage felt the moment she unlocked her front door, finally able to take a nice hot bath before having to dive back into party planning. Wrapping her towel around her curvaceous body as her tub filled with steaming water, she was about to put her hair up when she heard a knock at her door, the distinct thought ' _no one ever knocks on my door like a normal person_ ', actually made the little blonde more nervous than if she would have just found an intruder inside her home when she was done with her soak.

Keeping her hand on her key ring and ready to loose a Lucy Kick at any moment, she answered the door only to be greeted by the very familiar covered face of the Heavenly Body Mage, whose sliver of exposed face turned red at her answering her door in nothing but a skimpy towel which left absolutely nothing to the imagination as her chest tested the know between her breasts and barely covered the apex of her creamy muscled legs.

Her confused voice drew him from his thoughts, "Jell-Mystogan? What the heck are you doing here of all places, you know, my front door...at my home?"

Clearing his throat, his deep melodic voice muffled through the fabric over his mouth, "I was told to come see you when I arrived at the guild."

Narrowing her amber eyes, not at him in particular but at her nakama's sending him to her apartment instead of just waiting for her to come to the hall herself, her voice was almost bored as it dawned on her, nodding her head in little motions, "Mira sent you here."

"Is...that a problem? Because I can go if you are busy..." his almost grey deep green eyes pointedly roved over her body as he cleared his throat again.

Backing up to let him come inside her apartment, she was completely oblivious to his onceover as she smiled warmly to the former Wizard Saint, "Oh, no no, I was just about to get in the-" her face went blank before turning to rush to her bathroom, the curve of her ass barely covered, "Shit. Just make yourself at home! I'll be right back."

Shutting the door behind him as he stepped fully into the very pink apartment, taking the small space in before moving to the pink suede couch and sitting in the corner, practically melting into the soft cushions after travelling non-stop to check in with Master Makarov on any leads he might have for him. That and Meredy's endless complaining about missing the woman whose couch he was quickly falling asleep on.

Having shut off the water before she flooded her apartment again, she walked back out to her living room, "So I'm assuming-" only to be greeted by the powerful mage, fast asleep on her couch, his head lolled over the back, his left arm propped up on the padded armrest, his right palm up in the center of the cushion beside him, soft little steady snores coming from beneath his scarf. Giggling under her breath, she padded over quietly to pull the hat from his head, his deep blue hair falling free, carefully unwrapping the scarf from his face before disappearing back into her bathroom to enjoy her steamy bath, hoping to have enough time to enjoy it before the man in her living room woke up.

After a shorter than usual soak, the little blonde hummed her way through her bedroom, completely entranced in her thoughts centered around the rest of her planning for the New Years party, when she saw the stunned face of Jellal, blood gushing from his nose at her wet, naked body before she squeaked out, "I'm so sorry! I forgot you were here and then I got in the bath," moving around her bedroom to pull on a new red satin bra set she had gotten from Cana for Christmas, "and you are so quiet, well besides your adorable little snores but I couldn't hear them over my humming," hopping around to pull on her skinny jeans and buttoning them up, her chest bouncing only increasing the flow of blood coming from his nose, "and you haven't been home in months and I was deep in thought with all the things I have to put together still and I'm so sorry, Jellal," finally putting her arm through the sleeve of her loose cropped grey tank top and grabbing a towel to press to his nose, "I'll try not to do that again."

He thought he had gathered his wits enough to answer the gorgeous woman but after his words left his mouth, he smacked his forehead at his obviously muddled mental capacities, "No, no! It's fine, you can do that again if you want."

"I will take that as a compliment," chuckling under her breath as she backed away from the man to head to her kitchen, pulling a tea set down from her cabinet, her tight stomach exposed at her reaching up, and putting on some water before calling back to the blunette, "So, was it Mira who sent you here?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah. She said if I left and took Meredy away from the guild before the New Years party, she would hunt me down and make me pay for keeping her from scheming 'all the possibilities', whatever that means, and then she said I had to come see you right away," speaking casually as he cleaned himself up, peeling layer after layer from his body until he was left in a skintight black tanktop and a pair of loose black shorts, his feet bare as he unwrapped his legs, mumbling under his breath, "Fucking hell, this outfit is ridiculous..."

Leaning back on her counter, arms crossed over her chest as she eyed him critically, her voice far off, "Hmm, probably white and gold...maybe white and green? Deep blue and emerald? I don't think I have many green costumes..."

"Lucy?," voice wavering with his slightly uncomfortable squirming as the little curvy blonde started circling him, poking and prodding at his body, lifting his arms, tracing his sides with her flattened palms.

Tilting her head as she gave his very muscular ass a firm squeeze, voice still distant and airy, "Hmm?"

Looking at the serious face of the blonde as he lifted his arms higher to see her, "What are you doing?"

Answering matter-of-factly as she continued tracing his legs, her loose top falling forward to give him an unimpeded view of her red satin clad globes, "Getting your measurements."

Blinking down as she bent over in front of him to finish running her hands down his calves, his voice distant as he tilted his head to ogle the way the light blue material stretched over her backside, "My measurements? What on Earthland for?"

Snapping up as she heard the kettle whistling, giving the flushed mage a brilliant smile as she again, flitted around her kitchen to prepare the tea, "For your New Years costume of course. Virgo and I are making all of them and since you and Meredy will be attending, you'll need your own. It's a masquerade so I'll just make sure Virgo gives you a Phantom of the Opera style mask to hide your tattoo and boom, welcome back Mystogan. We've missed you."

Impressed with the Celestial Mage pouring the most delicious smelling chai tea and adding warm milk over it, she gestured for him to come sit at her dining room table next to her with her free hand, his voice mirrored his sentiments of the beautiful woman beside him, "Is that why I had to rush straight here, little seamstress?"

Rolling her bright golden eyes, her voice half a scoff before she took a sip of the spicy drink, "No, if that was the case, she would have also sent Meredy. She's up to one of her schemes but that's okay, it all worked out in the end."

Taking his first drink from his mug, he couldn't help but ask her what exactly was in the expertly mixed drink. He couldn't quite place what set this particular cup of chai apart from all the others he's had being a lover of teas of all sorts.

"Oh, I use sweetened almond milk for my chai tea. Something about it just makes it so much better than regular whole milk. I think it's because it's thicker; soothing your throat as you swallow," genuine toothy grin spreading across her lips.

Finishing his drink quickly, he asked earnestly, "Were you headed to the guild after your bath? Before I interrupted that is..."

Brightening as if he reminded her of something, she quickly cleaned the tea set up, calling back over her shoulder to the Heavenly Body Mage, "Yes, I was actually so get your get-up back on, Mystogan. _Fuck_ , I completely forgot about the cake...and the booze...shit, we gotta go tall, mysterious and handsome, so get that ass moving."

Genuine laughter filled her apartment as he started pulling on the layers of his disguise. He hadn't met a woman quite like her, well, ever as she ran around her tugging on a thin green sweater at the same time as she bounced on one foot to pull on her winter boots over the thick grey wool of her socks.

She grabbed his wrist as soon as her hand was through her coat's sleeve, thankfully he had just wrapped his scarf around his face when she pulled him from her apartment, the door locking behind them. Her pace didn't slow until they were bursting through the guild's doors, her breathless voice calling to the Takeover Mage behind the bar as she knelt over, hands on her knees, "I'm here! We are...here. Did I miss...it?"

"Lu-chan! I was starting to think maybe my plan worked too flawlessly," the silver haired mage winked at the pair before walking around the bar to take a seat at a table filled with little boxes, a woman standing at the end looking very bored with her arms crossed over her white uniform.

Waving over to the older mage to let her know she'd be over in a minute before turning back to the man next to her, still a little breathless as she looked up to the tall mages eyes "So, I'm about to eat a lot of cake and hear from a very reliable source that you love sweets. Want to help?"

Tapping the scarf over his mouth before answering her question quietly, "I'd love to but I'd have to put your baker to sleep and that might make ordering your cake more difficult. Thank you though, Lucy."

He couldn't help but smile at the slight disappointment in her voice, "I'm sure Gramps wants to talk to you anyway. If you or Meredy need a place to stay while you're here, my apartment's always open to you. I'll even make breakfast," patting his chest as she smiled up at him from beneath her lashes before turning to peel off her jacket and sitting next to the oldest Strauss sibling. Her silver topped head turned to make very knowing and pointed eye contact with him before he all but ran up the stairs to talk to Makarov.

xXx

After an hour of trying what felt like a million of different cake combinations, the two ladies decided on a white-strawberry cake, almond buttercream icing, chocolate cream between each layer with fresh strawberries on top and ordering the massive cake to be delivered mid-afternoon on the 31st.

Leaning against the chipper silver haired beauty, Lucy's voice was half a groan, "That was too much cake."

"Nonsense, Lu. We've just created a culinary masterpiece and now you get to help me take inventory of the guild's alcohol so we can place the order before five," she sing-songed from beside the blonde.

Sitting straight up, running her hand over her keys before turning to Mira, voice panicky, "Mira, it's already four and I know for a fact it'll that the two of us longer than an hour to take inventory and place the order."

Patting the Celestial Mages head to comfort her before ducking her head to whisper conspiratorially, "True, but it won't just be you and I," nudging the younger mage as she motioned her head to the cackling Seith Mage sitting with Wendy and Freed on the first floor of the guild.

"You want me to...recruit...Bix?," she was genuinely confused at what the demoness wanted her to do as she turned to look at the mage in question.

Rolling her sapphire eyes at the sweet blondes obliviousness, she clarified, "No, I want you to recruit the babies but I have a feeling Bickslow will be joining us as well," turning to head to the back storeroom behind the bar, her quiet maniacal laughter trailing behind her as she went.

Nodding her head as if that made perfect sense, "right," Lucy stood and walked over to the table that held the Seith Mage and his babies. Leaning over the table next to where Freed was sitting, her arm pressed against his as she smiled at the Sky Dragon, "My Wendy-lou, are you excited for the party? I think you're going to adore your costume, Virgo and I just finished it before we left for Sabertooth yesterday."

The little blunettes bubbly voice came out dreamy as she clasped her hands in front of her chest, "When can I see it, Lucy-nee?"

"I was hoping to be done with all the costumes tomorrow but even I don't know what the masks look like. Virgo has been very secretive about them," her voice had turned a little annoyed before turning her gaze to Bickslow, her usually cheery tone back, "Soooo, what are _you_ doing right now?"

Looking over his shoulders before pointing to his chest, voice playful as his grin split his lips, Lucy's own beaming in response as she noticed he ditched his hood again today, letting his wild mohawk free, "Who me? I'm not doing a damn thing right now. Why, Cosplayer? You want me to be doing something right now?," tongue lolling from his mouth at his suggestive wording.

Giving the man her own devilish smirk as she leaned further over the table, her voice low and sultry, "Actually, yeah I do. Something only you can do for me, Bix."

Caught off guard by her equally as suggestive rebuttal, his mouth floundered for a minute before Freed's smooth laughter sounded from beside her. Turning her head to smile at the usually quiet man, her voice was earnest and bright as she absently played with his little lightning strands of green hair poking out from the top of his head, "You should laugh more often, Freed. I really like your laugh."

In a very uncharacteristic bout of confidence, his handsome smile spread across his lips as her turned to face her, taking her long golden curls in his hand to feel the silk of it between his fingers, his voice low and smooth, just like his laugh, "It seems your company brightens the mood enough to pull even me from my own thoughts, Lucy, so thank you for that. I look forward to seeing what you'll be wearing at the New Years party. Maybe you'll find your way to my side before midnight strikes."

Managing to pull a blush from the Celestial Mage, she breathed out a quiet thank you before watching the Rune Mage get up and leave the guild, a thick book tucked away under his arm.

Turning back to the matching gaping mouths and astonished looks of the two blunettes, her voice was quiet and airy as she asked, her hand pointed after the long-gone Rune Mage, "What just happened?"

"I have no fucking clue, Cosplayer. I've definitely never seen him do that before," voice full of an impressed kind of awe.

The little dragon just shrugged earnestly before getting up and skipping over to the table where Romeo and Natsu were having a very...loud...discussion, leaving Lucy and Bickslow to stare at each other for a minute before he shook his head and returned to his normal, playful self, "You needed my skills for something?"

"Uh right, I was hoping that you and your babies could help Mira and I do a quick inventory of the booze reserves so we can place the order before five," her voice still a little breathy.

Whistling to gather his babies, the towering mage got up and scooped the little blonde up on his back, his voice bright as he lead them to the backroom, "Anything for you, Pretty Mama." His casual words earned him a brilliant megawatt smile from the blonde as they disappeared to help Mira, his babies trailing behind, "Pretty Mama!" "Pretty Mama!".

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~Depending on the number of reviews and votes from y'all, I'm thinking this will end up with multiple endings. The pairing with the most votes will be written first and depending on how quickly you leave me your reviews, the more endings I can get done to post New Years Eve!

So get to typing and let me know you lovely beautiful souls! {:~


	3. Chapter 3

~Okay so here would be the last chappie before it splits off into different endings. I am hoping to post them in order from the pairings with the least votes to the most sooooo make sure you follow the story to get the updates when I start posting the next chapters. This was a blast to write for y'all so I hope you like it my lovelies!~

* * *

The morning of the party, Lucy woke to find Meredy's sleeping face nestled in the valley of her chest, her little Plue printed tank top pulled so dangerously low, the pink of her nipple was exposed to the cooler air of her apartment. Trying to keep her giggling to a minimum, she pulled her arm from beneath the pink comforter tangled around the two mages to check the time. Running her hand over her keys to learn it was a little after six, the little blonde tried to figure out a way to get out from underneath the Maguilty Mage without jostling her too much so she could go to the bathroom before starting her busy day.

When the Heavenly Body Mage's deep sleepy voice mumbled from the doorway of her bathroom, she couldn't help but blush as his boxer-brief clad body moved like a zombie through her bedroom, "Good luck with that. If she senses you moving, she'll latch on with a death grip and you'll never leave the bed."

Giving the blunette her most convincing pathetic pleading look, her voice was quiet so she didn't wake the pinkette as she outstretched her hand to him, "Help me please. I desperately need to pee and her elbow is digging into my bladder."

Trudging over to the Celestial Mage's bed, he looked the pair over to try to figure out how to get the blonde without his partner knowing, "How in-"

"SHH! What are you crazy? Don't _wake_ her," Lucy hissed as she carefully pulled the comforter loose on her left side, exposing her shapely leg from beneath the soft fabric, her toes just shy of being able to touch the ground, her voice quiet as she held out her hand and demanded, "Give me your hand. I think I can just pull myself out and when I do, "pointing to her four foot golden dragon plushie, "you'll replace me, with Junior, and then you'll catch me so I don't land on the ground. Please."

Running a hand down his tattooed face before taking her dainty hand in his, mumbling under his breath, "This is batshit but okay. Let's give it a go." Earning him a halfhearted glare from the woman with gold twists sticking up all around her head before she pulled herself, slower than molasses in January, from Meredy's clutches until she was almost free. Quickly pulled the right side of her body from beneath her as Jellal tucked the giant stuffed dragon where the Celestial Mage's curvy body had just abandoned, Lucy's back pressed tightly against his front as they waited to see if the plan worked with baited breath.

After the two let out a collective sigh of relief at the pinkette's soft mumbling unto the soft plushie as she rolled over and continued sleeping, the bright eyed blonde looked up into his deep green eyes, her voice and smile entirely too cheery for the time of day, "Thank you, tall, mysterious and handsome. My bladder also thanks you, but get the heck outta my way," practically shoving the man to the side with a surprising amount of force that made the sleepy mage stumble to the side.

He sent silent prayers to the heavens that she was too distracted to notice the tenting of his underwear before he grumbling, "I should have just gone back to sleep."

After she finally relieved the aching of her insides and fixing her hair into pair of loose, messy buns low on the back of her head, she stepped back out into her apartment to make breakfast for her house guests, her little fluffy slippers scuffing lightly as she walked.

The sight of the blunette, who Lucy had to admit definitely bulked up nicely in his absence from the guild, shirtless moving around her kitchen with ease as he made a pot of tea, a borrowed pair of sweatpants low on his hips, like he did every morning since he and Meredy decided to take her up on her offer, put a huge smile on her face. The pair moved around each other in an almost dance-like way as she pulled spices and flour from cabinets, he pulled sugar out for her tea, she bent down to grab the skillet to the left of his legs, he reached over her head to grab three teacups, she pulled the cream and bacon from her fridge, that is until the Maguilty Mage's not so subtle, rather jarring, ' _awweh_ ' from the doorway, causing them to lose their easy groove as the hulking mage turned too quickly and caught Lucy's shoulder, knocking the blonde over.

Bracing for impact with the unforgiving tile of her kitchen, she shut her eyes only to have Jellal's muscled arm wrap around her midsection just before she connected. Cracking one eye open to make sure she hadn't hit and then passed out, she let out the breath she had been holding as he pulled her upright. She could feel the rumble of his words in his chest from where her back was pressed against him, "Fucking hell, Mer, how about you give us a warning before you scare the shit out of us next time."

Her silky red slip of a nightgown shifted as she pushed off from where she had been leaning against the door jam, her voice light and airy as she smiled between the two, reminding the little blonde of the Takeover's scheming matchmaker smile, "That was the most adorable thing I've seen...probably ever," taking up a seat at the table as she eyed her partner, who had yet to release his hold on the Celestial Mage, before continuing, "and I just woke up with a pretty freakin' cute stuffed dragon."

Turning to look up at her savior, her honey-drenched chocolate orbs met his still narrowed orbs, her voice matching the pinkette's, "Thank you for keeping me from breaking my nose. I would have been very upset if I made it all the way until the end of the year to ruin my face. Right before my favorite night and the very last night of the year, no less," patting his chest to return to her frying pan before she burned the bacon, but she still caught his the smile that spread across his lips at her thanks; or at least that's what she assumed. The Maguilty Mage had other thoughts on the matter as she looked between the two.

Narrowing his eyes at the devious smirk on his partners face, he quickly changed the subject before her ridiculous lovesick words could fall from her mouth, "What's the story behind Junior anyway? That's a pretty...unique stuffed animal."

Pausing her humming to answer him, not looking up from where she had started the pancakes, he could tell she was smiling by the tone of her voice despite her back being towards them as he poured three cups of breakfast tea, "Oh, right. That's Draco Jr. He was my prize from when I bet Cobra I could stump his mind-reading abilities, which I did flawlessly. I have no idea where he got him though."

"You can keep Cobra from reading your thoughts?," the pinkette's voice was incredulous as she blew over the rim of her cup of tea.

Flipping her pancakes with practiced ease, she answered casually, "Mmhm, it bothers him to no end, too."

A knock sounded at her front door, interrupting the conversation, Lucy whispered to herself under her breath, "I don't think I've had this many people enter my home through my front door in such a short amount of time since I moved in..." as she wiped her hands across her shorts, leaving little flour hand prints behind on her cheeks before she answered the door.

"Laxus?! Why are you awake right now?," taking in the sight of the very tall, very disgruntled man with a bundle of deep navy blue fabric in his arm.

His steely eyes narrowed dangerously as he entered her apartment when she stepped aside to let him in, his voice low and rough, "Like you don't know, Blondie."

Shutting the door, completely ignoring his terrible attitude as she motioned for him to take the free chair at her table, voice lilting and pointedly cheerful, "You're just in time for breakfast, Sparky, so sit your grumpy butt down and explain to me why you are here. Try not to electrocute my company while you do it, please."

Turning back towards the stove to add to the stack of pancakes already piled high, throwing over her shoulder before the Lightning Mage could make a smart comment, "Will you grab a cup for Laxus, Jellal? He's much happier when he has coffee in his system."

The Heavenly Body Mage hadn't even noticed she put coffee on until the smell of it filled the apartment as if on cue with her words. Wordlessly, he grabbed a mug for the blonde dragon and filled it before setting it in front of him. He couldn't help his snickering as he watched the surly man put scoop after scoop of sugar into the black coffee, his voice teasing as he drawled, "Didn't take you for the sugary sweet type, Laxus. It's good to know not everything about you is bitter and unpleasant."

"The only reason I'm not sending you on your ass is because Blondie asked me not to. You're lucky she said please," grumbling over the rim of his mug before he took a deep drink of the still steaming drink.

Meredy stood to offer help to the beautiful woman cooking heaps of food, endlessly amused at the Celestial Mages pull over some of the most powerful men in Fiore.

With the help of her pinkette girlfriend, Lucy managed to get the plates full of bacon, eggs, pancakes and sausage to the table. Laxus' deep voice, having lost the rasp of sleepy anger, rumbled across the table from her as she waited for her guests to fill their plates, "So I woke this morning to your pink-headed spirit in my bedroom and when I asked her how the fuck she got inside my home, she just laughed and disappeared, but not before leaving that," pointing to the wad of fabric on her couch, "behind. Do you know what that is, woman?"

Shaking her head without even looking over to what he had pointed at, her voice amused and light, "Not a clue. Why don't you enlighten me?"

"It's a suit, a tuxedo to be exact. That was not the deal and I don't want to wear it," crossing his arms over his chiseling chest petulantly.

Seemingly having to have caught the blondes attention, she turned to get a better look at the bundle before she tilted her head, mumbling under her breath to no one in particular, "That's weird. I told Virgo you didn't need a costume..." Flipping her body back to face the unconvinced dragon across the table from her, her voice tentative and calculating, "Have you...looked at the tuxedo?"

Rolling his eyes at her question, he scoffed out, "Of course I looked at it. She hung it on the outside of my closet after she locked it. I had to break my door to get dressed to come here."

Nodding her head in an easy motion, "And...? What was wrong with it?"

She must have took him by surprise by the way his eyes widened, his voice laced with the faintest tinges of confusion, "Nothing is wrong with it."

Her face brightened to suspiciously dangerous levels as she beamed at the older mage, her voice hopeful and expectant, "So you'll wear it tonight?"

"What? No, you said I didn't have to wear a costume," his leaned forward as the edge of his voice turned hard.

Getting up from the table to hold up the deep blue velvet jacket, the gold silk lapel smooth between her fingers as she very strategically spoke up, her voice dripping with disappointment, "That's a shame, sweets. It seems Virgo made your costume to match mine..."

When she heard the distinct choking noises from behind her mingle with Meredy's airy giggles. When she turned around to see Jellal smacking the Lightning Mage's back to help him clear his passageways, she expertly hid her own smile before giving him an impressive set of puppy dog eyes, her voice sad as she slumped into her chair, "I can't believe my spirit went out of her way to take the time to make you a costume when I explicitly told her you wouldn't need one...and then to make it be the perfect match to mine? I'll have to see if maybe Bix will wear it instead..."

Grumbling under his breath for a solid minute, trying his hardest to avoid the blonde's hypnotizing gaze before he looked up and his resolve snapped. His shoulders physically deflated as he rolled his eyes and stared at her ceiling, voice defeated, "Fine, fine. I'll wear the tux, but if you walk through the guild door's in anything except that blue over there, I will put everyone to sleep and ruin your party, Blondie."

As soon as his eyes met hers, she knew she had won. With a celebratory squeal, she pushed her chair back and wrapped her arms around the Lightning Mages head, giving the quiet blunette a very good view of her barely covered ass as she bent over right beside him, her voice rushing and excited, "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouLaxus!" Pulling back to poke his very surprised face, her cheek pressed to the top of his head, "You will not regret your decision. Did Virgo give you a mask?"

Awkwardly patting the curvy woman's lower back, his voice tight at her unexpected show of affection, "I got a box that I can't get opened with a note that said the lock would release at six this evening which I would assume holds a mask."

Meredy's sweet voice called to her oblivious, adorable friend as she started cleaning up the breakfast, "When did you have to get to the guild, Lu?"

Straightening at her question, Lucy ran to her bedroom to grab her keys, her voice faint from the other room, "Shit! How is it already quarter til eight?!" Rushing back out to the dining room, she pulled Laxus' beefy frame from the table, handed his neatly folded suit back to him and shoved him out her door, the dragon ducking just in time to avoid hitting his head off the frame as she breathed out, "Okay thanks for coming over for breakfast! You'll have to do it again sometime! Go to...wherever it is you go before you come to the guild! Better yet, go to the guild and help out, future guild master! Okay, bye," unintentionally slamming the door behind his back as she pointed to the Heavenly Body Mage, "You. Get your silly pants on, we have to get to the guild." Grabbing the grinning Maguilty Mage and heading back into her bedroom to get ready to set up for the party.

Jellal reluctantly got up, shooting the blonde a glare from the dining room, his voice low as he grumbled, "'Get your silly pants on' she says. Believe me, no one knows better than me just how ridiculous these pants are."

Ten minutes later, Lucy and Meredy were arm in arm, talking in matching bubbly tones as they made quick work of the walk to the guild from Strawberry Street, Jellal hot on their tail.

The Celestial Mage was surprised to see so many at the guild this early when they finally stepped into the warmth of the guild hall, her voice portraying the awe she felt, "Holy shit, I don't think I've ever seen this many bodies here this early...ever."

Bickslow called easily from the second floor where he was 'assisting' Freed as the Rune Mage created barriers over the railing to prevent the inevitably intoxicated mages from falling over the railing, "Damn, Cosplayer, 'bout time you got here to help us poor peasants get the hall ready for your party." His babies immediately flew around her, cuddling into random crevices, her chest, her neck, below her arms, as they repeated their mage, "Party!" "Party!" "Party!".

Making sure to give each a pat to the head and a little kiss before sending them back up to the Seith Mage leaning against the railing in a skin-tight long-sleeved black shirt and dark jeans, his black boots crossed at the ankles as his tongue lolled form his mouth, his eyes hidden behind his visor.

Tugging the two mages at her sides towards the bar to put their jackets and Jellal's cloak in the closet before Mira's smiling face greeted her, her voice chipper as usual, "Good morning, Lucy, Meredy, " giving Jellal a sly smile before drawling, "Morning, Jellal. Has your stay at Lucy's been comfortable? She's quite the little hostess. Wouldn't you agree?"

Not taking the demon's bait, he evenly spoke, his face portraying a look of boredom, "Good morning, Demoness. Lucy couch is very comfortable, thank you for your concern," before heading over to wear Natsu and Gray were arguing over where they should have them set up the DJ booth so they could start moving tables out of the hall to make room for the dance floor. His very intense presence quickly halted the insults flying between the two as the Fire Slayer looked over to see his Celestial Mage's messy golden buns, her curves prominent from the cropped red sweatshirt hanging loose to expose the high-waisted skin-tight heather grey leggings, her fluffy pink socks poking out from the tops of her worn black combat boots. His toothy grin spreading across his face as he closed the gap between them, ignoring the Ice Mage's questions.

"So the booze is coming at ten, the cake is coming at two, the DJ is setting up- _Oooofm!_ " the little blondes words were abruptly cut off from the hotter-than-normal toned arms that wrapped around her waist, his fingers skirting just shy of the bottom of the thin lace of her padless black lace bra.

His nose was tickling the skin of her neck just below her ear as he inhaled her scent, his voice excited and bright, "Luuuuuuceee, you weren't at the guild yesterday. I was worried about you."

Giggling as his hot breath danced over her sensitive ticklish flesh, she rubbed her ear on her shoulder to stop the dragon's ministrations, her voice breathy through her laughter, "I had to work on the costumes, Natsu. You could have come over if you wanted to."

Finally releasing his hold as he sent the silver haired beauty a glare, his voice more annoyed than angry, "Mira told me I wasn't allowed to come over. She said you have company and it would have been rude to invite myself over."

Scoffing as she patted the tanned chiseled face of the Fire dragon, cooing sarcastically, "Since when does that ever stop you. You regularly invade my bed while I'm sleeping, I think you coming over unannounced is the least offensive thing you've done in regards to proper calling etiquette." Turning back to the planner set out on the bar before adding absently, "No one ever waits for an invitation to my home. Hell, even Laxus invited himself over this morning."

Before the matchmaker could make a comment on the Lightning Dragon's sudden appearance at her home in the wee hours of the morning, Gajeel's rough gravelly voice drawled from across the hall, carrying two barrels on his shoulders, "Oi, where am I s'posed to put these?"

Her smile widened at the Iron Slayer's presence, her voice light as she walked over to direct him to the other end of the bar, "What did Mira have to do to get you here to help, Big guy?"

Scoffing at her obvious surprise at him being there, he rolled his eyes as he effortlessly set the barrels down where she told him to, "Wow, Bunny. Yer faith in my ability to help out of the goodness of my big, black heart is astoundin', really, thank ya."

Chuckling under her breath as she wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her chin on his sternum to look into his eyes, her voice playful, "Seriously though, how'd she get you to help?"

His throaty chuckle rumbled through her as his studded arms wound around her shoulders, "Nothin' that concerns yer pretty little head so ya just let me know what ya need from me, 'kay?"

"Will do, boss," pulling away to trace a hand over the blood red scarf wrapped around his head, little toothless grin spread across her bow lips, "I'm glad you like the scarf. It looks good."

"Yeah, yeah, some little bitty with questionable taste in men got it for me," winking down at the giggling Celestial Mage before heading back down to the basement to grab the rest of the barrels of alcohol.

Looping her arm through the crook of Natsu's elbow, she escorted the dragon back to the opposite side of the hall where Gray and Jellal must have decided where the DJ booth should go as they started moving tables, her voice light with genuine inquiry, "So where will the tunes for tonight be coming from, men?"

Wordlessly, the two men pointed to the empty spot in the corner of the hall, angled towards the bar and the S-Class lounge so the music could be heard from the second floor since they would probably need the space for the amount of people that were coming.

"Excellent choice. Would you mind directing the sound guys when they got here this direction to set up? They are supposed to come some time around lunch," asking earnestly as she slowly backed away from the trio of mages who were working to move the rest of the tables.

Gray cool voice answered easily, "We can do that for you, Lucy. I really hope you know how to get me out of that suit Virgo left at my house. It looks complicated as fuck and I don't want to be trapped in it forever."

"Don't worry about that, I'll get it off you as soon as the party's over, that is...if you don't pass out first," wiggling her brow at the smirking Devil Slayer before turning back around, throwing an easy wave as she thanked them, making a beeline Laxus' office.

She wasn't surprised in the slightest to see the mage's behemoth body sprawled over the leather couch in his office, arm thrown over his eyes, his button up riding high on his stomach to expose the bottom of his very defined eight pack as his other hand flirted with the cool wood of the floor. In an attempt not to wake the surly man up, she tiptoed across his office to his desk, hoping his comm lacrima would be in plain sight so she could grab it and leave the man in peace. Of course, she should have expected that it wouldn't be out in the open so with a frown, she walked around the desk and started rummaging through his drawers as quietly as she could.

With a silent ' _fuck_ ', the little blonde about had a heart attack when Laxus' deep baritone drawled from across the desk, "Whatcha lookin' for, Blondie?"

With her hand pressed into her chest as if that could still her pounding heart and a pointed glare, she breathed out, "First off, _Don't fucking do that to me_. Mavis, I thought I was having real heart palpitations so like, make some fucking noise next time you go lurking and second, I'm trying to find your communications lacrima so I can check in with the other guilds to make sure they know the doors will open at seven. Not a moment sooner or later than seven."

Giving her a dimpled grin that had her heart back to beating erratically, he drawled playfully back to her as he crossed his arms over his chest, "First off, this is _my_ office so I can lurk around as silently as I want to in it and second, I keep my comm lacrima in my coat pocket since I always have it with me."

Walking around his desk, she held her hand out expectantly as she asked sweetly, "Can I...borrow it?"

The massive dragon gave her a half shrug, his voice bored, "I don't know, you have been quite the pain in my ass this week."

"Ugh, what'll it take?"

"What'll it take for what, Blondie?"

Grinding her teeth together at his feigned ignorance, her words were uncharacteristically tight, "What will it take for you to give it to me?"

Raising a brow to the frustrated blonde, his salacious grin making her insides churn, "Give it to you? And here I thought you were the picture of innocence," the mischievous glint of his bright steel blue eyes met her own glinting golden orbs.

Irritation finally taking hold, she threw her hands up before running them down the sides of her face, groaning out from behind them, "Fine. **You** can call the guilds," before turning to head back out the door, only to be stopped by a surprisingly gentle hand on her arm.

His deep laughter filled the little room as he choked out, "I'm just messing with you, here," reaching into his pocket to hand her the little device, "you can even commandeer my office if you want."

Eyeing his outstretched hand suspiciously, she tentatively brought her hand up to snatch the lacrima, her voice matching her narrowed eyes, "Thank you, Laxus, how very considerate of you."

She was getting settled into his couch to make her calls before she felt the couch dip beside her and his arm drape around her shoulders, the fur of his coat sending shivers down her back as it tickled the skin of her neck. Her voice, genuinely confused with his actions, came out tight, "Are you gonna..." pointing to his lap with her index finger, "stay there...while I call?"

"Yep."

Giving him a curt nod, "Oooookay. This'll be fun."

Pushing her magic into the crystal, she watched it pulse a few times before Rogue's face came into view, his voice smooth and deep, "Good morning, Lucy. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing your face this morning?"

She could hear the chorus of greetings from the mages surround the Shadow Slayer at their hearing her name, Frosch's little paws tugging at the lacrima before the raven haired mage lowered the lacrima so she could see him, his voice bright as he beamed at her, "Are you calling Papa to set up another sleepover? Fro likes sleeping with you." Turning his little pink hooded head to look up at Rogue, "Is Mama coming over to spend the night with us?"

Her melodic giggles filled the room as she cooed at the little exceed, "I'm calling to make sure you, Papa and the rest of Sabertooth comes to the party on time that way I don't wait one minute later than I have to to see you, Sweetie. Can I talk to Papa quickly first?"

"Only if you agree to sleepover again, Mama," wide, proud smile took up most of the green cat's face.

"All right, Fro, I'll be sure to come back and sleepover soon, okay?"

Nodding his head excitedly, she could hear the little exceed as his bubbly voice spoke to someone out of the frame, "Mama's comin' over to spend the night with Fro!"

Laxus gave the obviously giddy woman beside him a questioning look, which went completely unnoticed as she chuckled out, "So I just wanted to remind you that we open the doors at seven. Did everyone get their costumes?"

Suddenly Sting's toothy grin pressed against Rogue's very evidently irritated face, his voice bright, "Yeah, your costumes are amazing! Not so much that pink-headed spirit of yours looming over me with an evil look in her eye. I honestly thought she was going to murder me..."

"Yeah, I really don't understand why she hates you so much, but I'm glad you like the outfits. Be sure to bring the box with your masks with you! Make sure you remind everyone before you get on the train," her own toothy smile mirrored the White Dragon's.

Shoving the blonde from his face with an impressive ease, Rogue drew easily, "We will make sure to pack them. We all are looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us," his lopsided grin quirked the corner of his lip.

With a bright smile of her own, she responded, "I'll see you then, Ryos. Have a safe trip here!"

Granting her a quick nod before smirking and adding, "It's good to see you, Laxus."

He gave the young dragon a grunt of a response before plucking the lacrima from her hand and cutting off the flow of magic, her attempt to smother her giggles were ineffective as he looked down at her, his bros furrowed with annoyance.

Giving him a shit-eating grin, she elbowed him lightly and spoke sweetly before leaning into his side, her golden eyes dancing with mirth from under her lashes, "One down, Spark Plug."

Rolling his eyes to meet hers, "Have I mentioned how lucky you are that I like you, Blondie?"

"Couple of times."

After a few more painfully uncomfortable calls, the Lightning Slayer had tucked the lacrima away. Rubbing the line of his brows as he mumbled under his breath, his elbows resting on his knees, "Fuck that was awful. How are you so happy after all that...talking?"

Patting the poor anti-social dragon's shoulder as she stood, her voice bright as usual, "I don't know, I just like people. You should probably get used to that though if you really want to be master some day."

Looking up at the blonde, voice earnest, "Why? You plannin' on going somewhere else?"

Tilting her head out of confusion, "No?"

His lips curled into a small grin as he gave a shrug, "Then it looks like I'll have you to handle all my people problems."

The Celestial Mage was equally as amused as she was shocked by his easy words, before she could answer him, Mira called from down the steps, "Lucy! I need your expertise!"

With a quick smile, the younger blonde left the little office and went to see what the oldest Strauss could possibly need from her that she couldn't do herself. As soon as the heel of her boot hit the second step, she was greeted by the wild blue spikes of Bickslow's mohawk, his wide easy smile splitting his lips before he asked, "So tell me, how'd a pretty lady like yourself end up with the Fire Slayer as her date to this shindig?"

Giving the Seith Mage a sly smirk, her voice dipping low as she teased, "Why, Bixy? You jealous?"

Tilting his head to check his black nails, voice casual, "I might be. What'd you say if I was?"

Leaning a hairsbreadth away from his ear, her voice sultry, "I'd say you should find your way to me before the countdown ends," pressing her hand over his chest as she hopped down the last two steps, leaving the tall mage to stew in his thoughts. Her lilting giggles bubbled from her chest as his babies chimed from around him, "Jealous!" "Jealous!" "Jealous!".

Finally making her way over the backroom where the silver haired beauty was stacking boxes of bottles with ease, face bright as her voice filled with an easy joy, "Did the alcohol come while I was upstairs?"

Looking down at the boxes and back up to the blonde, Mira clarified, "Oh, yes but that's not why I called you down here." Giving the young mage an unidentified look that crossed apprehension and genuine curiosity before elaborating, "No one has heard from Erik."

Lucy waited for the older mage to continue but when she didn't, she gave a hand gesture that was meant to say ' _so?_ ' as she drawled, "And...?"

"He usually comes to the guild by now," tilting her head as her brows pulled tight together at the blonde's lack of concern for the Poison Slayer.

"Usually the guild isn't bustling and he isn't expected to socialize when he comes in. He'll be here for the party," closing the gap between them to help the older mage stack boxes, the Takeover mage's sapphire eyes glinting with surprise at her easy faith in the homocidal-on-his-best-days dragon.

Voice a little hesitant as she watched Lucy read the labels for which box held what, "Well if you aren't worried about it, I won't either."

Letting out a scoff as she hefted the box of champagne out to the bar after giving Mira a reassuring smile, the Celestial Mage muttered under her breath just out of earshot, "Yeah, I have zero doubts he'll be here..."

Between running around to make sure everything was where it should be, everyone had gotten their outfits and the guild being made baby-drunk-proofed thanks to Freed and his amazing runes, five o'clock rolled around and she was shooing her nakama from the guild with an infectious exuberance that anyone couldn't help but catch, to go get ready for the party. They were to report back at six thirty sharp unless they wanted to be pulled into Lucy and Mira's last minute insanity before people started arriving.

Looping one arm in Mira's and the other through Meredy's, the Celestial Mage's voice was teeming with barely contained excitement after everyone finally vacated the guild, "Let's go get ready, shall we?"

The silver haired mage squeezed her arm in response, her voice matching the bright eyed blonde next to her, "I can't wait to see their faces."

Chuckles sounded from her lips as she lead them to the Laxus' office which she deemed their temporary changing room so they could get ready here at the guild instead of leaving the DJ here by himself, "Whose faces?"

Her voice was back to being her sly self as she and the pinkette shared a mutual look of devious mischief, answering together as they dragged her through the door, "The men."

With an obliviousness that had both the older mages trying to figure out whether they wanted to smack their foreheads or laugh, Lucy's dreamy voice bubbled out, "Oh I know! But I think the ladies mask's will be better."

Meredy having settled on throwing her arm around the little blonde, her voice cooing as she poked her slightly upturned button nose, "You are just too precious, Lulu," before rubbing her hands together and giving the Celestial Mage shifty, excited eyes, "Now where is my costume! I've been dying to see it all frickin' day."

With a quick summons of Virgo, the Maiden bowed deeply before greeting the three beautiful women, "Good evening Princess, are you ready to put on the dresses?"

The pinkette's head bobbed excitedly as Mira clasped her hands in front of her chest, Lucy's honey-swirled chocolate orbs shining bright as she pulled the garment bags from her spirit's arms and hung them around the room, her voice easy, "Oh, I've been ready to put this baby on since I had to take out for the final fitting. How are the men going to figure out their costumes if you aren't there though?"

Watching with a very deep satisfaction at the two older mage's gasps as they unzipped their bags and took in their completed dresses before clasping her hands in front of her, her voice just a little brighter than usual, "Big brothers Capricorn and Leo are helping your men as we speak, Lucy-sama. Now who wants to go first..." wiggling her fingers deviously at the little blonde.

"ME! Dear gods, me! I haven't worn anything like this...well...ever. And as much as I love Jellal, he is not a frivolous man on the road so I am very looking forward to some continued pampering, thank you," Meredy stepped forward to grab her fellow pinkette's wrist over to her bag.

With her spirit helping her pink-haired friend, Lucy walked over to help Mira with her dress; a blush pink, strapless mermaid cut dress with the bottom fading into silver iridescent scales. The moment the back was laced up and Mira was secured, she looked over herself in the mirror Virgo had set up in the corner, her voice breathy as she turned to watch the scales reflect a rainbow of colors, "Lucy, this is beautiful! When did you add the scales to the bottom?"

Smiling as she leaned her chin on the older mages shoulder, voice almost as airy as Mira's, "Virgo must have added them because I definitely don't remember those, but damn do you look good, Mira-nee," backing up to tuck the pink ribbon of her lacing into the dress and out of view.

When the two looked over to the Maguilty Mage, they were stunned to see her eyes a little watery when she turned to face them, her arms roving over the flashy crimson jewels that encrusted the bodice of her dress before the light, sheer material of her skirt, which looked like it was comprised of hundreds of individual pieces of fabric of varying pinks and reds, a light pink sash running from her hip, over her shoulder to disappear into the folds of her skirt in a flashy, Grecian styled dress, her voice was small but bright, "This is absolutely amazing. I've never felt so beautiful in my life."

With a tinkling giggle, the curvy blonde made quick work of the space between them, slipping a gold band Virgo had handed her over the pinkette's bicep, "Aphrodite is fitting look for you, Mer," giving her a quick wink.

Wiping the moisture from her eyes and with a very pointed gait to make her skirt flutter around her, both the older mages and her spirit gave the little mage a maniacal grin, their eyes glinting with something much darker as they closed in around her, Mira's voice sugary sweet, "Now it's your turn, Lucy dear," and before she could protest, they had pounced. Her clothes flying around them as Virgo unzipped her dress in a whirl of motions and fabric, they stood back to assess their work.

Lucy's hourglass figure was on display within the drop-waisted, one shouldered, gold satin dress, layers of sheer shimmering material layered over the smooth fabric in loose rouching, dotted with little sapphires throughout the bodice before multiplying the further down you got, the whole skirt, fanning out behind her enough to give her a little train but so much of one to impede on her dancing or moving through people, was a deep blue sea of gems. To top it off, Virgo had clasped a thick, sapphire encrusted, gold choker around her neck, little stars adorned the necklace as matching earrings hung from her ears.

The spirit's easy voice made tears spring to her eyes, "Capricorn wanted me to make sure you got these. They were your mother's and her mother's before her."

Pulling her maid spirit into a very emotional hug as she let out a watery little ' _thank you_ ' before pulling back. With a quick swipe of the back of her hands, her smile widened to brilliant and toothy levels as she noticed the locks on their neatly lined up boxes had vanished, turning the women into squealing, wiggling masses of goo wrapped up in exquisite packaging.

Meredy opened her box first and her bright ruby eyes glistened as she picked up the metallic gold mask. It's layered gold leaves set to perfectly frame her eyes, little ruby roses hidden between the thin metal to extend higher over her forehead and into her hairline.

While Mira and the pinkette opened the Takeover mage's box, a full face mask on a silver wand completely covered in pearls and opal's shaped like delicate little shells, the Celestial Mage summoned Cancer out to help them get their mask's ribbons hidden away in their hair, Meredy's dark pink in dainty curls pinned in a low bun at the nape of her neck, wispy curls loose down her back, Mira's styled into big mermaid waves held back from her face by a crown of seashells.

While the two older mages were gushing with her crab spirit, Lucy opened her box to reveal a beautiful deep blue silk mask, the constellations painted in little dainty patterns of gold, deep blue feathers layered over fluffy gold fanned from the left side down to where the blue of her mask covered her left cheek down to her chin, cutting across the bridge of her nose before cutting below the gold swirls that framed her eyes, making her own honeyed-chocolate eyes pop as she held it up to her face in the mirror, her voice filled with awe, "Dear Mavis, this is amazing."

Cancer's easy deep voice drawled as he came behind her to fix her hair in curls before rolling the mass of tangled golden silk into a wide, loose heap at the back of her head, two spirals hanging down on either side of her face from beneath the intricate mask, "Ebi, you look radiant. Your Mama would be so proud of the amazing woman you've become, ebi."

"You're going to make me cry and then I'll have ruined your hard work," she smiled up to the deeply tanned spirit from beneath her thick lashes lined with sparkling gold to match her mask, taking his hand resting on her shoulder in hers.

Virgo's respectful voice cut in, "I'm sorry, Princess but it seems the rest of your guild is ready for Cancer's expertise so we must be on our way but brother is right, you are going to knock them dead this evening," giving a small bow before she and Cancer disappeared into a puff of golden sparkles.

After the three glowing women strapped their heels on their feet, they clicked their way down to make sure the guild was set up perfectly, putting the last touches on everything before Meredy popped the cork of a bottle of champagne. Smirking to her two gorgeous counterparts, she took a swig straight from the bottle before thrusting the bottle out to Mira, "Congratulations, ladies! You've managed to survive all the party planning, unexpected visitors, and unruly guild mates and personally, I think you deserve to have a little pre-party celebratory drink."

"Let's do it!," the silver-haired mermaid exclaimed before taking her own drink and handing the bottle to Lucy, who quickly followed suit.

Their fits of bubbly-alcohol induced giggles interrupted by the sounds of their guild mates outside the door, prompting Mira and the Maguilty Mage to all but shove the Celestial beauty into the backroom with a surprised, "What the- _Ooof!_ ", as they shut the door before the men of Fairy Tail could see the little woman.


	4. JelLu Ending

~Okay so after a very intense writing spree interrupted by some tipsy celebratory editting, I am starting to post the endings for y'all so with that being said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR BEAUTIFUL HUMANS

Enjoy the first of many endings to come!~

* * *

The instant Jellal stepped through the doors of the guild, the deep sapphire of his dress shirt layered over with the forest green cloak, faint hidden peacock patterns adorned the beautiful silk that you could see when the material moved, his thankfully regular and normal deep blue dress slacks left no room for imagination with their well tailored fit hugging the curves of his toned legs, of his hips, with his bright blue hair tucked away beneath a golden head wrap that barely overlapped the gold silk of his mask that was made to perfectly cover the red of his face tattoo and the brow of the opposite eye, but nothing else, the Heavenly Body Mage was all but assaulted by his partner as she dragged him to the door of the storage room behind the bar and shoved him in.

Only after hearing the noise of the lock clicking into place, did he noticed the soft whimpering coming from underneath his body. Blind in the pitch black of the closet, he scrambled up before he crushed whoever he had landed on, his voice deep and apologetic, "I'm sorry, I didn't know someone was already in the closet I was just manhandled in to so if I hurt you, I apologize."

"For Mavis' sake...Jellal? Is that you?"

"Lucy? What the hell are you doing in...here?," reaching his arms to try to gain some knowledge of the little room he was trapped in.

Her little scuffling noises filled the tiny space when suddenly, her dainty hands were on his hips, a little ' _ah hah!_ ' sounded the moment she made contact before her hands were moving over his body with reckless abandon, her voice low and impressed, "Wow, you are really ripped but also, I need you to take a step to your left or your right, either will do. I'm just not too keen on staying in the tiny storage room for any longer than I have to." Muttering under her breath as he stepped aside for her, "Even if the company is very attractive."

His voice was low and husky as her body pushed passed him to get to the door, "You think so, Lucy?"

But his playful inquiry was completely lost on the blonde as she mumbled and muttered. She had pulled a pin from her hair and felt her way to the lock on the door to see if she could get the door open to let them out.

After a very suspect short amount of time, he heard the lock click and she had the door opened. Grabbing his wrist to pull him out into the light of the guild hall, he was rendered speechless by the way her dress wrapped around her perfect hourglass shape before fanning out in a sea of sapphire behind her. His breath was completely taken away when she turned to face him, her smile bright as the stars she loves directed at him from beneath the dark blue of her mask, only making the gold of her eyes pop more as she spoke excitedly, "Damn, Je-Mystogan, you look...you look _good._ Much better than your usual outfit," before she moved to circle him, her hands smoothing fabric as she made the slow walk. When her dainty hands found their way to his back, she gave his ass a playful squeeze, earning a grunt of surprise from the very fit man. Her eyes held only the keen sparkle of mischief as she finished her walkabout and faced him, her voice light, "I like the emeralds and sapphires on your mask. They definitely add to the appeal of all this," gesturing to all of him.

"Are you usually this handsy?," was his only response as his brain sputtered, between her words and her very blatant meandering hands, he didn't know what to think of the blonde whose home he had been sharing for passed few days.

With a devious smirk and a pat to his exposed cheek, she all but cooed at the older mage, "Only with people I really like," before turning to head to where the mages of Mermaid Heel where gathered at the bar to do shots, her hips swaying in hypnotizing motions as she did, leaving the blunette to ponder over what the hell she meant as he made his way to a back table under the balcony of the S-Class lounge.

After the first two hours of having to go through the same conversation with every singe person that recognized him as Mystogan, he decided to make a game of it to make the following two hours entertaining for him. So every time someone asked him: where he's been, what have you been up to, what's a mage like you do in your spare time, where were you when Fairy Tail was disbanded or his personal favorite, is that what your chin looks like, he took a very deep drink of his beer which made him exceptionally inebriated when eleven rolled around and Lucy's very curvy body sat beside him at his table in the second darkest corner of the guild.

Her voice was teasing and bright as she leaned on her elbow to talk to the Heavenly Body Mage, her finger trailing over the rim of her champagne flute aimlessly, "So a little birdie told me that you have been ordering mugs of beer like your life depended on it and I was just curious to see if the rumors were true."

Pointing to himself incredulously, his voice slurred but still deep and somehow smooth, "Me?! It's not my fault everyone that recognizes me asks me the same exact questions," turning his body towards the giggling blonde, his hand making his way to her thigh beneath the table before he added, "But I think it's cute you came to check up on me."

"And I think it's cute you need checking up on," easily drawling back to the flirty drunk.

"I haven't seen you much this evening," his voice called to her as his body moved closer to hers, not that she much minded the closeness, before taking another drink from his mug.

Tilting her head as she raised her brow, her voice dripping in sarcasm, "What? You don't have very good visibility from your dark, secluded corner away from everyone? I am genuinely shocked by this revelation. You should write a very strongly worded letter," before finishing her bubbly drink in an easy gulp.

Shrugging his shoulder, his cloak laying over the bench beside him leaving him in his form-fitting blue dress shirt, he had rolled the sleeves up to expose his muscular forearms, before he gave her a twisted smile she didn't know if she trusted and took her hand to lead her to the dance floor.

Her voice was filled with the obvious surprise she felt at his very abrupt and uncharacteristic actions as the heady, bass heavy music hit her chest, "Are you...going to dance with me?" Thankfully she had long since gotten Meredy's help pinning the back of her dress up so she didn't have to worry about people stepping on it.

When he spun her to press her back flush with his chest and dipped his masked face low to her ear, "I'd like to do more than dance with you, Lucy."

His deep, husky voice sent shivers down her spin as he started the slow grind of his hips in time with the music thumping in her chest. She was thanking Virgo for packing her tall heels silently as she took in the feel of his pelvis, impressive bulge pressing into the swell of her ass even through the thick material of her dress, and the way he dipped with her. Their perfect rhythm that seemed to come naturally to the pair never faltering as she got lost in the music; in the heat pouring off the people surrounding them, in the way his muscles tensed and flexed pressed into her back, the thin silk of his shirt the only barrier between, in the way his breath ghosted over the skin of her neck, in the way his hands splayed over her hips.

Before she knew it, the crowd around her had focused on the lacrima screen above the DJ booth as the ball started dropping. With a very specific reason in mind, she turned her back to the screen to face the gorgeous blunette, her eyes sparkling under the lights above them.

His voice was heavy with the desire that was shining in his own deep green eyes as he asked, "Can I kiss you?"

With a breathy laugh, she answered easily as her hand wrapped around his neck, the few tendrils of his hair that came loose from the scarf soft between her fingers, "I'd be more mad if you didn't at this point."

While the rest of the guild's occupants were yelling their ' _Happy New Year_ 's, Lucy had her lips locked with one of the most powerful and mysterious men in all of Fiore, completely and totally okay with getting lost in his lips as his hand cupped her face to his to deepen their kiss, the taste of beer on his tongue as it danced with hers, the other hand wrapped around her lower back to press her further into his body, before he pulled away, his voice throaty as he breathed out, "I would really like to take this mask off and I would love to take that dress off your body. You've been teasing me all week and I am not a man who likes to be teased without reward."

Humming her answer, she gave a dreamy nod to the sexy mage before the room full of mages around them dropped in a sleeping heap tangled with each other, his shit-eatting grin firm on his face as he lead her towards the door.

Her voice was an attempt at scolding as she let him take her hand, "We could have just left out the back door, Jellal!"

Taking her face in his hands in a quick, heated kiss before he pulled back, "And miss the way my name sounds coming from your lips? Not a chance."


	5. GaLu Ending

~Here's the next one for y'all...~

* * *

When Gajeel's rough gravel sounded through the door, Lucy couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face as she all but hugged the cold wood keeping them apart, "What the fuck are ya doin' in there, Bunny?"

Her voice, though muffled through the door, was airy despite her cheek being smashed against the door, "Gajeel, you have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice."

"Tch, why's that?"

"Well...you can let me out and then I can get back to finishing up. I've been sitting on a crate of champagne that needs to go back out to the bar-"

"Nah."

Lifting her head to stare at the door in the pitch black in confusion at his simple dismissal, her voice turned inquisitive, genuinely thrown off by the Iron Slayer, "'Nah' what?"

She could picture the cocky smirk on his studded face perfectly as he answered, "I don't think I'll let ya out just yet."

She took a deep breath to keep herself calm, which was totally and utterly useless with the amount of irritation in her body that had been slowly building since the older Strauss and the Maguilty Mage had stuffed her in the backroom in the first place, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T ME OUT, YOU OVERGROWN BAG OF NUTS AND BOLTS?!"

With a heavy sarcastic inflection, the dragon scolded, "Is that any way to talk to the guy who can get ya outta there, Bunny Rabbit?"

In a bout of anger, she pounded the door with her tiny fist, making the Iron Slayer jump at the force behind it, not that he would admit that to anyone, "Gajeel Redfox, you let me out of this closet right now or you better pray to Mavis herself that I don't get out on my own!"

Again, she could picture the careless way he was shaking his head, the long raven hair shifting as he did with the matching careless tone as he drawled, "Nope. I'll check back in with ya after a bit ta see if ya calmed the fuck down. Don't have too much fun in there!"

"Gajeel! Gaj, you get back here right now!," leaning her head against the door as she deflated in the dark once again, "Fucking asshole..."

After what felt like hours, she finally remembered she had hooked her keys to the garter at her thigh, so in a scrambling motion, she ran her fingers over them until she found Virgo's key and summoned her, the faint glow of her gate opening was quickly followed by the glowing fire of a lantern in her hand. The pinkette bowed before easing out, "Princess, am I to be punished?"

Her words were rushed as she walked around the shelves, motioning for her Maiden spirit to follow, "No, no, Virgo but you'll be please to hear I would really like to punish ' _Master_ ' Gajeel," mumbling under her breath before lifting the skirt of her dress," fucking big, useless dragon...leaving me in the backroom while he does Mavis knows what...how has no one else noticed my absence from my own party..."

Waving her spirit over to where she had crouched on the floor to lift a little, threadbare rug to reveal a door in the wooden panels of the floor, her face was tight with apprehension but her voice was determined, "Okay, so this door leads to the basement and all I'll have to do," taking a deep breath as she lifter the hatch, the musty scent wafting up from the opening, spiderwebs glistening under the glow of the lantern, "...is make it to the door to the gym, then up through the pool room, then back into the guild from there."

Looking up at the very obviously amused face of her spirit, her eyes narrowed as she asked suspiciously, "Why are you enjoying this so much?"

"Master Gajeel will be punished and I won't have to worry about you, Princess. You'll be punished in return," her eyes getting a far off, dreamy look.

Lucy eased the lantern from the disturbed woman's hand and with a soothing nod of her head, she drawled sarcastically, "Right, because that is the normal response to what's happening, but thank you for the lantern."

With another small bow, she helped her mage down the steep steps of her descent before disappearing to gloat to her fellow Zodiacs.

xXx

The Iron Slayer was nursing his rum and coke when he finally saw her, instantly choking on the liquid that he inhaled as he took in the disheveled state of the Celestial Mage; her hair half loose and crooked, the dust and spiderwebs tangled in the fabric of her once golden dress, the distinct and revolting smell of the dampness of the basement mixing with the scent of the gyms sweat-soaked equipment and the weird mix of coconut and chlorine that only got worse the closer she got to him in his sanctuary of the darkest corner of the guild. He also noticed the murderous glint in her eyes the closer she got to him as he tried his best to get his breath back from the alcohol in his lungs.

Her voice was as acidic as the Poison Cobra loved so much, a heated hiss that was only punctuated by the little blonde leaning over the table he was sitting behind and grabbing the shell of his pierced ear in her hand with a vice grip, " _You_."

Through his sputtering and groaning, he managed to spit out, "What the fuck...I was goin' to let ya out after this-"

"No. No, you should have let me out the instant you heard me behind the door, is what you should have done," pulling the dragon across the table to meet her gaze, a hairsbreadth from her lips before Mira called to her innocently from behind.

"Do you know why the backroom is locked-" her face immediately stretched into concern as she looked over the Celestial Mage, "Lucy! What happened to you?"

Gajeel cringed as she let his ear go with a sugary sweet smile that he knew, did not bode well for either mages, her voice set to match, "What happened to me? I'm so glad you asked." Crossing an arm over her chest as she gestured with her free hand to match her sarcastic words, "Well, my night started with two insane women locking me in a closet, then some asshole, who knew I was in the closet, left me the fuck in there so I had to crawl through the unfinished part of the cellar, which is freezing and dirty and all around awful before I came to the door to the gym, where I tripped over someone's old, grody towel and landed in the dirty laundry hamper, but not before stepping in a puddle of Mavis knows what and ruining the bottom of my dress and my favorite pair of heels. Then do you know where I had to go?" Glaring at the Iron Dragon who opened his mouth to answer her obviously rhetorical question before hissing out, "The pool room. The freezing cold pool room that reeks of pool chemicals and suntan lotion!" Turning to the surprised face of the Takeover Mage, she tacked on, "You'll have to replace the knob on the door because I had to take it off to get back into the guild."

Before either could say anything, she again, cut them off to look at the Iron Slayer, her golden eyes narrowed dangerously as she asked, "And where is your mask? Your costume?"

As the Mira backed away slowly with Lucy's attention being solely on the poor older dragon, Gajeel attempted to soothe the little blonde, having hit new levels of Angry Lucy, "Yer little maid dropped it off this mornin' while I was out. I didn't have time ta put the damn thing on."

"No."

"No?"

Grabbing a bunch of the black fabric covering his chest, she pulled him back over the table, her newfound strength both arousing and scaring the Iron Slayer, her voice low as she seethed, "No. You are going escort me to Laxus' office where you will put on the suit and I will change out of my destroyed dress and then you will stay by my side the whole night."

Rolling his eyes, he scoffed out, "Yeah, right. I'm not stayin' with ya, Bunny. Yer gonna be flittin' 'round talkin' the whole night."

"Don't make me embarrass you in front of all these people, Gajeel Redfox..."

With a grunt of reluctant acceptance, Lucy let him go and crossed her arms over her chest to wait for him to get up.

Finishing his drink before moving to her side, he put his right hand on her lower back and his left out in a sweeping, sarcastic ' _after you_ ' gesture before following the haughty woman up to the second floor and into the Lightning Slayer's office.

After an ungodly uncomfortable talk with Virgo about the pleasurable uses of her whip, the pinkette finally left retrieved Gajeel's costume and a new dress for her mage, leaving the two alone.

His rough baritone cut the unusually tense silence between the two as she tried to undo the lacing at her back, "I'm sorry 'bout yer dress, Bunny."

With a deep exhale, she let her arms fall to her side, her voice quiet, "Will you help me out of it? I can't reach the lacing."

He asked, his voice filled with genuine questioning, "Ya said it was ruined right?"

A sad noise left her lips before she breathed, "Unfortunately..."

With a quick motion, he had cut through the material at her back, effectively making the heavy dress fall away from her body in a crumpled heap at her feet, leaving her in a black satin, corseted chemise, the bottom barely covering the curve of her ass as black straps sat stark against the creamy smooth skin there to hold up her thigh high black stockings. She let out a little giggle while she pulled the pins from her ruined hair to let it fall down her back, her voice breathy but bright, "That is definitely one way to get the dress off," before she started humming under her breath as she stepped back out of the remnants of the gold and sapphire dress.

A little surprised gasp fell from her lips when her back pressed into the hard ridges of the raven haired Slayer's chest, turning around with the intent to apologize, her words were cut off as his lips took hers an a greedy ferocity that made her toes curl as her golden eyes fluttered shut to melt into the unexpected kiss.

Virgo's even monotone cut the moment too short for the little blondes liking as she removed her hands from the silk of his hair to her hips to stare at the pinkette, "I have brought your costumes like you requested, Princess."

"Your timing could have been better, Virgo," her voice breathless from their kiss as he let out a throaty chuckle from beside her, earning him a little halfhearted glare from the Celestial Mage.

With a small bow, the pinkette asked, much too eagerly, "Will there be punishment for my mistake?"

Walking over to lift the spirit upright, her voice exasperated, "How about you just go back for tonight? Thank you for all your help with everything, but no. Just...go home for now."

With a devious glint in her eye, the Maiden spirit disappeared, Lucy's head cradled in her hand as she muttered to no one in particular, "Ridiculous spirits..."

In her distraction, she hadn't heard the Iron Dragon come up behind her, his rough hands on her hips as his voice dipped low in her ear, "How 'bout we stay up in Spark Plugs office 'til next year and start it off right, Bunny."

Pushing the toned chest away from her body with a playful smirk, her voice matching, "Oh no, I've missed enough of the party already, Mister Redfox, so you just go over there and put your costume on and I'll stay over here and put mine on and then we will go from there."

He drawled back to the little woman, mirth dancing in his ruby eyes, "Killjoy."

Keeping her honeyed eyes on him until her started undressing to put on the simple, gunmetal grey tux, she turned away to unzip the garment bag that held her second and hopefully last, costume for the night.

Completely ignoring the black tie hanging in the bag, Gajeel turned to see if Lucy was ready to head back, only to have an involuntary growl rumble through his chest at the sight of her in a studded, strapless black gown, her shapely, stocking covered left leg sticking out from the high slit in the skirt that ended dangerously high as she walked towards him, her starry mask replaced with a simple black feathered one, her golden curls loose as they framed her brightly smiling face, her voice sultry as her heels clicked across the floor, "I think we will make quite the entrance, Big guy. Someone is bound to faint at the sight of the wild Iron Dragon Slayer in an extremely well-fitted tuxedo that leaves very little to the imagination of whats underneath," running her fingers down the bit of exposed chest from beneath the unbuttoned dress shirt.

"Are ya sure I can't convince ya ta stay up here?," moving to take one of her own unruly curls between his fingers before his right hand snaked around the studded material of her hips.

With a shake of her head, her hand patted his cheek before her words fell from her lips with playful ease, "Nope. Just like there isn't any way for me to convince you to put your mask on that studly face of yours," pausing to look around before tilting her head, her voice tight with confusion, "Where is your mask anyway?"

With an alarming amount of ease, his words hit her ears as his hands traced up the curves of her side, "I ate it."

"You- How- But...why would you-" giving him a hand gesture that said ' _I don't want to know_ ' as her lips turned down, "You know what? That's fine. Let's just get back down to the party. I've already missed a huge chunk of it already."

In a huff of a groan, the Iron Slayer followed the Celestial Mage out to the top of the steps before she looped her arm in his and tilted her head towards him, her voice bright and cheery as they descended the stairs, her leg peaking out with every sway of her hips, "You and I are going to have so much fun socializing with mages from every single guild in Fiore so get your best people face on, sweetheart, and if you do well, maybe I'll let you give me my New Year's kiss."

Before her could give the blonde beauty a very sharp retort, he was being swept up in a chorus of feminine giggles from the women of not only their own guild but those of the mages of Mermaid Heel and the little Celestial Mage of Sabertooth. Each and every one of them taking a turn to poke and prod at the grumpy man who did clean up rather well.

Literal hours later, Gajeel was leaned back on the safety of his bench in the cocoon of darkness of his corner of the guild, jacketless arm thrown over his eyes when he felt Lucy's dainty hand press into his chest from where she was standing between his open legs, her voice melodic as she sing-songed, "Oh big, bad, dragon of mine, I've brought you an offering of alcohol with the promise of something better in less than a minute."

Not lifting his arm, he scoffed out, "Yer gonna let me leave?"

He heard the material of her dress fall away from her leg as it pressed over the crotch of his pants, her smooth as silk voice quickly sending blood to the member beneath her, "Better yet, I'm gonna let you leave with me."

Finally moving his arm to stare at the gorgeous woman practically crawling into his lap, his voice throaty as he rasped out, "Yer sure 'bout that, Bunny? I can promise I'll be ruinin' another of yer pretty little dresses if ya do."

Dipping her head as the countdown ended, breathing out over his lips, "I'm looking forward to it," before sucking his bottom lip into her mouth, instantly breaking him from his stupor to wrap his hand around her neck, gripping her exposed thigh with the other as his mouth turned ravenous under hers, quickly taking control of the kiss.

When she backed away to let him up, she erupted in a fit of giggles as the hulking dragon threw her over his shoulder and carried her out the door to take her back to his cabin far away from the prying eyes and ears to give her the punishment she deserved after four hours of endless and useless gabbing as she made subtle jabs to his hatred of people and all things happy.


	6. FreRuLu Ending

Sabertooth's Memory Make Mage was only half-surprised when he walked into Fairy Tail's guild hall, the amazing old style gold tuxedo with its long tails extending behind him, ruby red cravat tucked away beneath the pink lined, double breasted jacket, his very convincing gold knight's mask tied firmly around his golden hair, the plumes of pink feathers shooting from the left side of his mask, to find that Lucy had made him a set match with their own Rune Mage as his perfect opposite; where his suit was golden-yellow, Freed's was silver-grey, where his necktie was red, Freed's was a bright green, where the pink silk that lined and accented his costume, Freed's was a dark plum. Even his mask was a perfect juxtaposition of matching exactly and being his total opposite, the silver knight's mask tied around his light green hair, plumes of dark purple shooting from the right side. He was a little more shocked that his counterparts mask didn't do anything to hide the unique coloration of the black and purple of his right eye; in fact, the outfit seemed to have been based around it in a very bold display and having known the green-haired man for years, he knew that eye was the very reason he insisted his bangs stay firmly across his face, so with a slightly confused tone, Rufus closed the distance between them and asked, "Good evening, Freed. How did Lucy get you to pull your hair up and display that," pointing in an off-hand fashion to the eye in question, "as the focal for your outfit?"

Running a hand under the silk of the silvery mask, just below his right eye, the older mage spoke evenly, his voice smooth, "She asked me to, and then Loke came to my home and insisted I put my hair up. He was very cryptic and smiley the whole time I was getting ready. It was almost enough to make me want to ask him but I thought better of it knowing how Lucy's spirit can be."

"Ah, so I was not the only one to be paid a visit by the Lion of the Zodiac. Though he did try to get me to put my hair up as well, I much prefer it down. He became very...disgruntled at my lack of agreeance. It was actually quite entertaining to watch him pout and grumble," conversing with ease while he took the time to look for the Celestial Mage of Fairy Tail's crown of golden hair in the sea of people.

Noticing his distraction, Freed turned to stand next to the blonde, ducking his head towards him, "No one knows where Lucy is, though if I had to put jewel down on anyone, I would say the pair of matchmakers would know. Mira and Meredy have been laughing under their breath and giving most of the male population disturbing smiles since the night began. It's gotten even worse since they started drinking."

Shooting him a sly look from the corner of his deep emerald eyes, Rufus suggested, "Then why don't we ask them where Lucy is? I'll take the demoness and you find the Maguilty Mage and we will reconvene in say...an hour?"

Giving a curt nod before stepping away, the Memory mage could hear his friend's whispered words, "Thank Mavis I get to talk to Meredy and not the Demon."

With an air of confidence, even after having to take thirty minutes just to find the Takeover mage, he had asked the giggling woman to dance, which she very excitedly accepted.

As he was leading her with an effortless grace thanks to his family's years of lessons, he was not surprised when the silver-haired mage finally broke their silence with a huff, "When are you going to ask about my imouto, Rufus?"

Feigning ignorance, he continued dancing as he glanced down at the frowning woman in his arms, "Oh, right, where are my manners this evening. How is Lisanna these days?"

Mira was impressed at his face's lack of change when her hand tightened it's grip on his painfully, her voice tightened to match, "Lisanna is wonderful, but you know that's not who I meant."

"I suppose you mean your enchanting adoptive sister then; I was wondering where she could be at her own party." He knew he was getting under her porcelain skin with his casual tone and very pointed lack of eye contact.

Her tone was also very obvious in giving away her annoyance, "Lucy is hidden away so we can see which of her suitors will find her first and many have tried to get her location from me." Adding under her breath as she stared daggers into his throat, "Though, you are the first I had to prompt..."

Meanwhile, Freed was waiting patiently for the pink-haired Maguilty Mage to finish telling him about the time she and Jellal found a Wyvern in the cave they were sleeping in and she convinced him to let her lure the monster out without hurting it, which she did successfully at the end of her story. After a polite pause, Freed turned to the woman, his voice smooth but there was an edge to his words that wasn't unkind, just determined, "Have you seen Lucy yet this evening?"

Giving the green-haired man a sideways glance, her bright red eyes dancing with mischief, over the rim of her white wine filled glass, her voice airy and devious, "I have, Mister Knight."

Moving his hands to clasp behind his back, he asked, his regal voice still smooth, "Would you be so kind as to tell me where you saw her?"

Giving a little nod and a wiggle of her fingers in the vague direction of the bar, she half cooed at the Rune Mage, succeeding in making him shift uncomfortably, "Well, we were getting ready when," her shoulders lifted in an exaggerated shrug," _oops,_ she found herself locked behind closed doors."

He couldn't hide the shock on his face or in his voice, "You locked her in somewhere?"

"Yep, and you should probably let her out," tapping on the pink mark around her wrist, "She's getting pretty irritated in there," before her maniacal giggles could fall from her lips, Freed was gone, his coattails fluttering behind him as he went.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of Rufus' smug look as he danced with the very irritated Strauss sibling, Mira's eyes shining with that particular kind of shine everyone in Fairy Tail knew not to push any harder when it appeared in the deep blue pools so in an effort to save not only the blonde it was directed at but the beautiful evening the Celestial Mage had worked extremely hard to create, he interrupted their dancing. With a slight bow of his head to the Takeover Mage, his voice was respectful and genuine, "You make a lovely mermaid, Mira. Virgo has really outdone herself with these costumes and her masks rival even those of isles of Minstrel."

At the sight of the two men in their matching costumes next to each other, the blue-eyed beauty brightened before she rushed out, practically shoving the blonde from her arms as she pushed them towards the bar, "Lucy's in the backroom and she's been in there for a while so who knows the state she'll be in when you find her. You three have fun and be sure to treat my little sister right."

When the usually put together men turned to look at the silver-haired woman with confusion, she had meandered away, her voice dreamy as she spoke, "Little babies with green hair and big golden eyes...blonde haired green eyed babies with manners...oh, the manners..." before letting out a breathy sigh and searching for the Maguilty Mage to swoon with her fellow matchmaker.

"Is that normal?," Rufus drawled as he tilted his head quizzically.

"That was actually pretty mild. I'm surprised she didn't lock us in the backroom with Lucy," before turning back towards the storage room that currently held the Celestial beauty, his golden counterpart in tow.

When she heard the door opening, she immediately stood in the doorway, eagerly awaiting her release with her hands on her hips, ready to berate her girlfriends for trapping her in here but when her eyes adjusted and she was instead greeted by the grinning faces of Rufus and Freed, hilariously and ironically donning matching knightly masks.

In a rush of relief, she quickly pulled the two men into a very tight embrace, her hands each gripping a bunch of fabric from the back of their jackets, her voice overflowing with warmth as she nestled her face between the two men, "Thank fucking Mavis. Of all the people, Mira and Mer shove me in a glorified closet right before the doors open, but it's okay," pulling back to take her saviors in, her hand on her chin as she appraised the two men, Freed's cheeks coating in an endearing pink blush while Rufus' lips split into a sly grin when she let out a noise of obvious approval as she circled around them, her hand running over the soft green hair of the Rune Mage's high ponytail before tugging on the loose golden strands of the Memory Make Mage's hair playfully, "because my knights have come to rescue me. Do you like the costunes?"

Rufus took her hand and ducked to press a kiss to the back of her hand, little giggles bubbling from her lips at his actions, his voice low, "Darling, they are exquisite. Your Lion seemed to approve as well."

Gathering his nerves, the older mage cleared his throat before tacking on, "He said so multiple times I was getting ready."

With a bright smile and her voice matching as she spoke to no one in particular, "So _that's_ who he was voting for. I guess that makes sense since you two are to most respectful and you fit his very high standards."

"Your spirits were...voting for men?," her fellow blonde asked with an air of astonishment.

Looking up to the pair in front of her as if they had just appeared and she wasn't expecting someone to speak with a look of mild surprise before nodding her head absently as she started walking towards the crowd, "Oh yes. They are extremely biased and it's a cause for many useless debates between them and migraines for myself. Even Stache Face gets involved sometimes...or at least that's what Plue tells me."

Freed's hand had made it's way to her back as he ducked his head to her ear so she could hear him over the bustle of mages around them, his voice like sin as it dipped low, "And they are voting for what exactly?"

"Usually? Who would make the best 'prince for their princess' but recently their arguments have all been about the kiss," she spoke casually as she made her way to one of the tables right beside the dance floor before he pulled a chair out for her.

After she sent him a sweet, thankful smile, the easy lilt of her golden knight had her turning towards him, completely entranced by the emerald orbs framed in golden silk, "The kiss? Now this I have to know, Lulu."

Raising her brow as she leaned over the table to look between the two men to either side of her, her voice far away, "You know, _the kiss_ , the big one, my first real one. They seem to think this New Years will bring it but I'm not so sure."

Twisting the loose curl framing her face, Rufus asked, his voice full of mirth, "Do you plan on hiding away at the stroke of midnight, darling?"

A breathy chuckle escaped her as she scoffed, "Not unless Mira or Meredy shoves me in another closet," before turning to watch the mages twirl around the dance floor, her elbows leaned back on the table, her golden eyes glowing from behind her deep blue mask.

"Might I suggest steering clear of all doors with locks until after, then?"

Looking over her shoulder to the blonde at her left, she shot him a beaming smile, "Or I could just stick to my savior's sides?"

With a small nod of his head, he concurred with a light laugh, "That is definitely the safest course of action, Lulu."

Turning her head to go back to watching all the billowy skirts as they twirled and twisted, she was instead greeted by the outstretched hand of her silver knight, his mismatched set of eyes looking deeply into hers, making her heart flutter in her chest as he asked with a toothless, handsome grin, "May I have this dance, Lucy?"

She hadn't meant to nod so eagerly. Or for her mouth to speak before her brain could catch up, "About fucking time," which made smooth chuckles sound from beside her as Freed's grin grew wider, her blush spreading down to her chest.

Taking his hand in hers, she half-mumbled as he lead her to the center of the floor, "Would you guess I've had years of etiquette training to prepare me for society with that very smooth display?"

His throaty chuckle lightened her mood as he adjusted his right hand to grip hers loosely, his left falling to her lower back before he started leading her flawlessly with a practiced, stoic grace, his voice back to that sinful deep silk that made her lower abdomen ignite, "The Heartfilia women have always been known for their impeccable taste and willful, kind hearts with a beauty that goes unmatched, and that tradition seems to have continued in you, Lucy."

Genuinely taken aback by the Rune Mage's words, her voice voice light and airy, "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Among other things," he drawled easily before snapping her out from his body and spinning her back in, her back pressed against his chest as his breath danced over the shell of her ear, "You look absolutely ravishing tonight," spinning her back out before catching her in a low dip, his arm wrapped around her back as she let her head fall back, exposing the smooth skin of her neck, her left hand extended languidly over her head as his hand ghosted over the column of her throat.

The pair was abruptly brought out of their breathless reverie at the sounds of applause surrounding them, Cana's loud wolf whistle ringing out before she yelled, "Who knew Freed was smooth as fuck!"

Pulling her up to meet his chest, she looked between his eyes, taking in the beauty of them before she half-whispered under her breath, which was still shallow from their dance, "You should dance more often."

"Only if you'll be my partner," he watched as her golden honey eyes left his to look at his slightly parted lips. With their chests rising and falling in time with each other, he unconsciously ducked closer to her pouty, pink lips as they started to pucker.

Until the crowd started filling in around them at the dance beat the DJ started pumping through the speaker and someone bumped into the little blonde and instead of getting her first, magical kiss, she was giving the incredibly attractive man whose arms she was wrapped in, a pretty hard headbutt that connected her forehead with his nose, simultaneously ruining the moment, knocking their masks askew and causing the green-haired man to have his hand fly to his nose to try and stop the flow of blood from it.

"Oh my gracious, Freed! I'm so sorry! Oh my gods," in a flutter of motions, she was undoing the green cravat from his neck and pressing into his face as she lead them back to the table, instead of taking her chair, she opted to sit them on the bench, pulling the unnervingly calm mage down with her to rest his head in her lap. She made quick work of undoing his mask and setting it to the side on the table, her voice apologetic as she smoothed his already impeccable hair back in nervous soothing motions, "Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"I'll be fine once it stops bleeding. It wasn't your fault anyway, Lucy," his voice muffled from beneath the makeshift rag.

Rufus' deep throaty chuckles sounded from behind her, his voice playful as he teased, "I'm actually impressed. You managed to assault the man who just spun you out like a professional and almost gave you a pretty magnificent first kiss. Picture perfect, in fact."

Shooting him a glare before her voice came out lilting, but there was definitely a slight edge, "Hah hah, your powers of observation are astounding. Could you please go get some ice for his nose so it doesn't swell too much?"

Getting up from his chair to move in front of the little blonde before ducking to untie her crooked mask and set it next to Freed's, "Of course, darling, but only because you said please," giving her a little wink before heading to the bar to procure some ice for his friend.

She watched the pink plume of the Memory Make Mage as she spoke, absently threading her fingers through the silk of his ponytail fanning over her lap, "Did you know he had three brothers?"

"And a sister," Freed added casually from her lap, causing the blonde to look at him with wide honeyed eyes.

Her voice was breathy as she huffed, "Did everyone know that except me?"

Chuckling at her obvious frustration, he clarified his knowing of the Lore family for her, "My family and his have been close for longer than just he and I have been around, Lucy. I spent my summers at the Lore estate until I was eighteen."

"I guess that explains it," nodding her head at his explanation before her face spread with a look of deep thought, "What was he like when he was younger?"

Rolling his eyes as he remembered the little Memory Make Mage's face and the hours of endless questions he had, "Mavis, he had to ask about everything and more annoying yet, he remembered everything so you have to be careful what you said around him in case he brought it up again in the wrong company."

Her lips spread in a wide smile at his words, her voice bright as her fingertips traced over his brow, "I was just telling Rufus about weird it is to think we could have, all three of us, been at the same place, at the same parties before I came to Fairy Tail."

"Rufus was still to young to have been there but I very distinctly remember the night of your official introduction to society," pulling the rag from his face to see if the bleeding had stopped before leaning up on his elbow and continuing, enjoying the shock dancing in her pools, "You were wearing a pale pink dress with pink flowers embroidered into the fabric and you looked absolutely miserable. You shot down every single offer to dance, including Rufus' oldest brother and at the time I idolized Alexander so I thought you were some horrible, unpleasant girl with her nose so high, your neck would break."

Her mouth dropped open at his lazy confession before he gave her a smile, which she narrowed her eyes at, before continuing, "Until you took the time after the Fantasia ordeal to come talk to each of us, Bickslow, Evergreen and I, to ask us if we were okay, to make sure we knew that you forgave us and that you would be there if any of us needed anything. I should say I'm sorry I was so quick to assume that you hadn't changed since that party."

Poking his forehead playfully as she rolled her eyes, her voice light but incredulous, "While I would appreciate that apology if I was being a heinous bitch for no reason at my party, I wasn't. My Mama had just died and I told my father I didn't want to have the party, which he refused to listen to me about; telling me it was my duty to find a advantageous match to further help the Heartfilia name, that my husband was somewhere in that room and that he would probably be the man I had the most fun dancing with so I refused to dance with anyone. Of course I didn't know at the time, that was the only time my father was going to give me a choice in who I married. So again, no need to apologize." Pausing for a moment before adding dreamily, "Though that dress was gorgeous..."

Freed's words were stuck in his throat as he looked up at the bright, cheery woman above him, completely dumbfounded at her lack of bitterness from all the pretty horrible that have happened to her. His silent awe was interrupted by the bright lilting voice of the Memory Mage, "Apparently no one saw you break his nose and my asking for a towel and ice was enough to require the gathering of three bartending minds to make it happen so I hope I'm not too late and we haven't lost him," before handing the white ball to the Rune Mage who immediately pressed it to his nose as he laid back down in the Celestial Mage's lap with a sigh of relief, the two blondes above him falling into east conversation as Rufus sat in her original seat.

xXx

After hours of dancing between the two very well-trained men, Lucy fell into a breathless heap on one of the couches in the S-Class lounge, her head light with the bubbles of too many glasses of champagne as she settled herself between the two handsome men, her voice high and slightly slurred, "Beautiful, wonderful knights of my life, I've been informed I have been selected to do the post-countdown speech which is a horrible idea, honestly. BUT! The people have have asked for a speech and so they shall get one." Turning to lean her head on her fellow blonde's shoulder as she looked up at him from under her lashes, "Except I don't have any clue what to tell all these people, handsome, golden knight. And you!" lifting her head to cup the Rune Mage's smiling face, her voice full of halfhearted sass, "You have been a man of many...very well hidden...talents and I feel slighted," waving her hand flippantly, "or something like that, because of this...that...you know what I mean."

With a light laugh, the Memory Make Mage pushed her loose hair from her face, more curls having gotten free by her constant movement the whole night, before teasingly suggesting, "We could always lock you in a closet when the time for speeches come..."

"...or you could assault someone else as a distraction so the masses forget about speeches altogether," Freed drew lazily, his stoic, serious demeanor gone from his own alcohol levels as her traced the smooth skin of the back of her hand with the back of his own, the green of his guild mark complimenting the pink of her own as she flipped her hand to trace it with her fingertip.

"Or! Oooooor, just hear me out here, but I could...just not," staring forward with a huge toothy grin on her face as if her babbling was an excellent plan and with a very certain air of finality, she grabbed another flute of champagne and downed it.

The two men shared a look of ' _I have no idea what just happened_ ' before the blonde between them suddenly went limp, her breathing even as her mouth, slightly ajar, let out soft snores, her head lolled to Rufus' shoulder, her hand still tangled with Freed's.

When the countdown finally ended, the two long-time friends shared a look over her golden crown of hair before pressing a kiss to each of her cheeks, perfectly content to stay on that couch on the balcony until the beautiful blonde between them stirred for the first time in the New Year.


	7. BixLu Ending

~Getting down to the last few, and I feel like I should tell y'all that as of right now, only the winner of your votes got a smexy smutty scene but who knows, that could change with the proper convoncing... ^.^ okay, okay, here goes another could be ending~

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After two hours of being stuck in the backroom, Lucy blindly pulled a bottle of booze from the crate she had pushed against the shelf to make a chair for her to sit on and thankfully, it had been a forgotten box of champagne so she popped the cork, ducking as best she could as the deadly projectile bounced around the tiny room so she didn't get hit by it, and chugging the bubbly liquid, getting about halfway done before an impressive burp escaped her little body, halting her drinking only momentarily before she lifted the bottle once more and finished the fizzy alcohol. Continuing this process until another hour had passed and she had four empty bottles at her feet with an impressive buzz, she heard the Bickslow's easy baritone from outside the door, "Don't worry, Matchmaker, I'm grabbing the last crate now, calm down."

Teetering her way to the door on her stilted heels, she leaned against the cool wood, thanking Mavis herself that she was going to finally be freed from her prison, except Bickslow didn't know she was trapped in the closet let alone that he needed to be ready to catch the tipsy blonde as he swung the door open from the other side. So with a high-pitched squeal from the tumbling Celestial Mage and a surprised ' _Oof_ ' from the Seith Mage, the pair landed in a tangled heap, her chest pressed into his broad, tanned chest which was bare from the open deep red vest of his weirdly attractive jester costume, his knee pressed between her legs as his left arm wrapped around her instinctively, his right stretched behind him in an attempt the lessen the impact of their fall.

He should have been concerned that he just found the missing blonde beauty in a closet and very obviously intoxicated from her infectious giggles and the wafting scent of alcohol coming from her body, but the moment his masked eyes met hers, he burst into loud, gut-busting cackles.

She was giving him the goofiest, toothiest smile he'd ever seen on the little blonde while she clutched an empty bottle of champagne, her voice as sweet and bubbly as the booze she'd been downing for the passed tho hours, "Bixy! Thank gods you let me out of there. I was starting to go nuts," holding the bottle as if offering him a drink, her head tilting cutely, "Want some champagne to celebrate my prison break?"

Sitting the pair of them up, her body twisting to sit sideways in his lap, his voice easy as he shook his head, "I don't think there's any left to celebrate with, Cosplayer. Did you drink that whole thing by yourself?"

Nodding enthusiastically to the tall mage, she held up a finger let him know she wanted him to wait there before she crawled back into the darkness of backroom. He could hear the sounds of glass hitting off glass before she reappeared with an armful of five empty bottles and one full one hanging dangerously from her fingertips, her smile wide and proud as she spoke, "I drank all these by myself. I've been in the prison for a very long time and I don't even know why I was being punished so I popped the booze and I drank." Throwing her arms out wide, letting the glass bottles go as she held the last bottle out towards the party, the Seith Mage scrambling to catch all five of the empty ones so they didn't shatter from where he had sat on the floor waiting for her, before she looked down and giggled. Her fingertips tracing the tall points of his deep blue and red striped mask, the edges outlined in gold, but her smile fell into an adorable pout as she tried to pull the mask from his face when she noticed it was slitted like his visor to hide his eyes. Her voice childlike and determined, "What the hell is this? I thought for sure Virgo would make this thing so I could look at you..."

Lining the bottles up along the wall as he held off her barrage of grabby hands and frustrated grunts, finally able to stand to his full height, effectively cutting off the little blondes attempts to get his mask off his face, his voice cut through her pouting as he poked the end of her nose, "Okay, so you've probably had enough to drink, right? Why don't we get some fresh air now that you've been released from prison-"

"Rescued," her voice flat as she corrected him with a firm nod.

His smile only curled wider at her interruption before he tried again, "Now that you've been rescued from prison."

Looping her arm through his, she gave him a quick nod before the pair made it about four steps into the crowd successfully before she stopped dead in the middle of the floor, her voice confused as she looked up at the mohawked man, "Where are my babies?"

Not expecting her to stop moving out of nowhere directly in his path, he snaked an arm around her waist to keep her from falling over as he ran into her perfect hourglass figure, endlessly amused with the spontaneous beauty that the Celestial Mage in his arms channeled perfectly in her alcohol-induced state. As he set her tiny frame but upright, he couldn't help but smile as she laced her fingers with his to tug him down to her line on vision, eyes searching for his beneath the mask before her voice came out impatient, "Well?"

"They're here somewhere, Kitten. Did you want me to call them?," drawling lazily as he tried to suppress his laughter at her serious face.

"I'm not moving until I get to give each of them a kiss," crossing her arms defiantly, still not caring that they were in the center of everyone trying to get to the bar.

"You're pretty cute when you get bossy, you know that?"

His words seem to upset the feisty woman as her scowl deepened and her arms tightened, her voice low as she hissed out, "No, I'm not."

"Riiiight, of course you're not. You're fierce and scary and I will gather _your_ babies for you," standing up to whistle for his babies, crossing his arms over his chest to mimic her defiant stance as they waited, his smile wide as his tongue lolled from his mouth, equally as uncaring about their current position in the flow of traffic.

Tilting her head to the side, she mused out loud as if she meant for her words to stay within her head instead of spilling from her lips, "You're pretty cute all the time, I know _that_."

"What was that, Cosplayer?," he leaned down with his hand cupped to his ear teasingly.

Returning back to her demanding scowl with an adorable shake of her head, "What was what?"

"I'm pretty sure you just called me cute," poking her button nose with his long index finger.

Narrowing her eyes as her lips pursed out of frustration before denying her words, "I'm pretty sure I didn't."

"I'm pretty sure you're lying."

"I'm pretty sure...yeah, well-" just as she was melting into a stuttering bout of denial, the sounds of the babies chirping surrounded her and her face filled with the cheery brightness Bickslow was used to seeing on her gorgeous face, the fact that it was his babies that pulled her from her entertaining tantrum, only made his chest fill with a kind of warmth he hadn't felt in ages.

Before he knew it, Lucy was walking aimlessly to the back of the guild, completely oblivious to the bodies that were splitting to let the cooing woman through as she moved from baby to baby, rubbing her nose against the smooth wood of each of their bodies. Quickly catching up to her giggling frame before she could run into a bench and take another tumble and steering out to the pool area to get some cooler air and quiet to maybe clear her head of the case of champagne she managed to down all by herself.

After sitting the radiant blonde on a lounger and taking the lounger next to her so he could face her, the jeweled train of her dress covering his boots as she sat upright between his legs. He liked to think he was caging her in with his legs in an effort to keep her from taking an unexpected dive in the pool, but he knew that excuse was flimsy at best.

Her little lilting voice pulled him from his thoughts as his name fell from her perfect pink lips, "Bickslow, why do you wear your visor all the time? You said there was a reason but you never actually said what the reason was."

Rubbing the back of his head at the kind of taboo topic of conversation for him before meeting her open, expectant face, free of the exquisite mask as she raised her toned arms to release her golden hair. Completely hypnotized as the silky curls cascaded around her shoulders to fall to her hips with a bounce, only getting pulled further into her presence as she pulled its length over to one side over her shoulder, her voice light as she leaned back on her palms to take in the starlight through the glass roof with her eyes closed, "If you don't want to answer, you don't have to. It just kind of bothers me that you hide the most unique part about you and it really pisses me off that the only reason I can think of for you to do that is everyone else's ignorance and judgmental opinions. People are fucking assholes and you shouldn't have to wear that visor because of it."

Her honesty made his chest tighten and the easy, matter-of-fact way she said it, like she really genuinely believed her words, made his resolve crumble. So with a kind of reluctance, he unbuckled the mask from his face to let her have a shot at his vulnerability, which made him nervous and excited all at once as his babies settled around him, noticing the nervousness of their mage. His voice was quiet as he kept the deep red of his eyes on the mask in his lap, "I got so used to the safety the visor brought. I've been told by every single person that sees my eyes and my tattoo that they make me a monster, a criminal, like I chose to have this magic. Even in the guild, no one looks me in the eye, so I got used to keeping it on so other people felt safe around me. And fucking hell, you purposefully go out of your way to meet my eyes, even through the visor. You just sounded like you would beat the shit out of someone for doing what comes naturally for people when they see the tattoo on my face."

She scoffed, still not looking up from her relaxed position as she lifted her feet to slip the heels from them and cross them over his thigh, "That's because I would and it's not natural, but continue."

Chuckling under his breath as he looked up to take her in, her skin glowing under the shine of her stars, her face light with an easy confidence, even the easy level of comfort she has around him to use him as a footstool impressed him as he continued, "Lucy, do you have any idea what it's like for me to be around you? Your _soul_ , gods your soul, is one-of-a-fucking-kind and you have no idea."

That finally caught her attention; not only did he call her Lucy but he rarely talked about his ability to see souls. The only reason she even knew about it before this week was because she had been with Laxus when he got the call for a very specific job that requested Bickslow specifically and when she questioned the Lightning Slayer about it, he let it slip in the wee hours of the morning what Bickslow could do with his magic. As she met his deep red swirling pools, she wasn't exactly surprised, it's not like this was the first time she'd ever seen his face, in fact, when she met his eyes, she felt a kind of warmth through her chest.

Without hesitation, she was leaned forward and her hands were bracing her body on his thighs. Obviously taking the Seith Mage by surprise, she chuckled under her breath as her hand came up the trace the little man tattooed across the bridge of his nose, her easy smile pulling her lips before she pressed them over the blackened skin, her voice breathy and light as she leaned her forehead against his, "I really like the way your face looks. The entirety of your face, Bickslow."

"That is so fucking weird," he hadn't meant for the words to come out but they had and with a very quick move of his hand to the back of her neck to keep her from backing away like she intended to at his misinterpreted words, he shook his head and clarified, "It's just kind of hard to actually believe that you of all people are the one to get me to take the mask off."

Pressing another quick kiss to the end of his nose, she backed away only so she could get more comfortable and sit in his lap, the alcohol in her system having a significantly less hold on her thoughts with the serious turn of events, not that she minded one bit before leaning her head on his shoulder, her voice low as her energy slowly drained from her body, "You know what I think is pretty fucking weird?"

His lips spread into a small genuine smile at the sleep mingling in her words, his own gentle as he brushed her hair from her face, "Why don't you tell me, Kitten?"

Her dainty hand gripped the soft fabric of his vest as she pulled herself back to look into his eyes. With a little pause her golden eyes dropped down to his full lips, he licked his top lip at her staring unconsciously before her eyes glinted with a playful sparkle as she all but breathed out, "You still haven't kissed me."

His deep, rich laugh echoed through the cavernous room before he grabbed her heels and set her upright once again, his free hand firm on her lower back, "I didn't know I was allowed to kiss you or believe me, I would have but at this point, we are so close to the countdown. Why not head back in so I can impress you with my very smooth dance moves until the new year strikes, then I can dip that sexy little body of yours and kiss you until you see stars."

Putting a finger up to her chin as if debating his offer, her voice bright as she shot him with a beaming grin, "Abso-fucking-lutely. As long as the mask stays out here."

His voice was light as he made the easiest decision of his life and pulled the little blonde back into the fray so she could actually enjoy the party she worked so hard to put together, "Deal," leaving the red and blue mask behind on the lounge.


	8. LaLu Ending

~What do y'all think so far? Any endings sticking out to you? It was actually pretty close for the top pairing so stick with me til then! Thanks for reading and being amazing!~

* * *

"Uh...Mira? Mer? Why in the hell did you shove me in the backroom?" squinting her eyes as she looked around, her hands feeling the walls blindly to try to find the light switch she was sure should have been right here before mumbling under her breath, "No, no just lock me in a closet before my favorite night of the year, that's fine. I've always wanted to get to know this backroom in the intimate inky black of pitch darkness so, really...thank you."

After what felt like hours but actually only amounted to thirty minutes, she had to hold her arm up to block the bright light coming from the suddenly opened doorway, her voice breathless as she stood from where she had plopped on a crate filled with Mavis knows what because she sure didn't, her eyes focused on smoothing her skirt, "Thank you for letting me out of the backroom, mysterious savior," before muttering under her breath, "Fucking crazy women shoving me in a closet...who does that? Like honestly though..."

Laxus' towering bulky frame drew her from her thoughts as her eyes took him in from the bottom up; his shined, black dress shoes, the perfectly tailored black dress pants, his black silk dress shirt tucked below the black leather belt, bright gold buckle shining between the open deep blue velvet suit jacket, the golden silk of the lapel matching the gold, slender tie around his neck, little lightning bolt cuff links shining against the black of his shirt sleeves, but his mask is what made her breath catch; the whole thing was made entirely of gold-plated metal in a Phantom of the Opera style shape, the lightning blot of his scar exposed below the beautifully molded mask, the bottom of the mask coming to a point, the edges reminding her of the lightning he wields.

Unfortunately the gorgeous mask and the mighty fine looking tuxedo could do nothing to help the very obviously irritated Dragon Slayer's horrible attitude, disdain dripping from his voice, "What the fuck are you doing locking yourself into the backroom, Blondie? I thought I was going crazy, hearing you talking to your-" his thoughts halted when the Celestial Mage stepped out of the pitch black and into the light where he could take in her curvy figure, wrapped up in the same colors of his jacket, "Fuck, Lucy..."

Completely oblivious to the older mages once over, she shot him a haughty look, voice set to match, "I did not lock myself in here, you idiot. I was pushed, unceremoniously, into the backroom and then the door was locked from the outside. I am a victim here, not you, Sparky," as she pushed the hulking man from the out of her way so she could head back into the guild hall before the rest of her guests came in. Running her hand over her keys under the fabric of her dress, she still had five minutes until the doors were to open.

Taking a moment to really take the grumpy man beside her in, she smirked up at him while she ran her fingers under his lapel before tugging the heavy fabric of his jacket so she could loop the one button of it through the hole, her voice genuine and lilting, "I'm glad you decided to wear the suit, Laxus. You look very handsome in it...some women might even say you looked downright sexy," winking up at him before making her way to the second floor to check the lights, missing the wide bright blue eyes of the Lightning Slayer as he watched the sway of her hips gracefully make her way up the stairs.

She could hear Mira and Natsu greeting the mages of Fiore as they came through the door with an exuberance and cheer she was quite proud of before heading to the corner of the balcony where Laxus had done his 'light thing'. In an attempt to step over the very tangled mass of wires and plugs to make sure the lights she almost died to put up, were all set up and ready until the stiletto heel of her golden strappy platform shoes got caught on one of the wires and plunged the guild hall into total darkness, a chorus of gasps and one very high-pitched girly scream that she could have swore sounded a lot like Fairy Tail's own Seith Mage, filled the silence before she called out from where she had landed in a heap, "Don't worry! It's just me and I will hopefully be able to fix this." Mumbling to herself as the chattering from downstairs picked up, "I can fix this...right?"

After feeling around underneath her blindly for a good solid five minutes, she huffed out a frustrated sigh as she leaned the back of her head against the railing before sighing out, knowing he would hear her even over the crowd below, "Laxus, I need your help so if could make your way up to the S-Class lounge, that would be great."

For the second time that day, the hulking man managed to scare the bejesus out of her, making her heart beat erratically as her breathing went shallow, to save her from the pitch black as he silently reached across her, his body looming over hers so closely the smooth velvet of his jacket brushed across the skin of her collarbone, to plug the wire she loosened back in to illuminate the guild hall once again, earning loud cheers and applause from below.

She shivered as his arm came back across her chest, stalling halfway back to his side to offer her a hand to help her up as he looked anywhere but her face. Despite his lack of eye contact, the smaller blonde smiled up at the dragon, her voice bright, "Seems you'll be acting as my knight in velvet armor all night, Laxus."

When she took his hand in hers, she was expecting him to help her upright but she was not expecting the powerful mage to then scoop her up with one arm to carry her out from the tangle of cords, his voice deep as his breath ghosted over her ear, "Will you be needing me all night or just when it comes to saving you from the dark, Blondie?"

Giggling as he sat her down at the top of the steps, she patted his chest as she spoke earnestly, "What would I have done if you decided to stay home this evening?"

Smirking down into her sparkling honey eyes, voice teasing, "Don't worry. I'm sure someone would have let you out of that closet eventually."

Looping her arm through his, she all but pulled the Slayer down the steps with her, speaking casually as her dress fanned out behind her in a sparkling sea of deep blue, "What would you have done?"

Confused as he glared over the sea of faces, he asked earnestly, "What would I have done...with what?"

"If you stayed home instead of dressing up and coming to the guild."

Looking down at the little mage on his arm, he had to admit, he really liked the way she looked there, before answering honestly, "Probably the same thing I do every other year."

Rolling her eyes at his vague answer, making sure to not trip over the last step as he lead them to the bar, "Gee, try not give me such a wordy and descriptive answer next time, I don't need all the details of your life..." before giving him a slow-curling smile.

Drawling lazily as he held an arm out for her to take a stool, "Because I'm often known for my long, wordy responses to things, Blondie," before taking the seat next to her, attempting to lean on the bar top until he heard the telltale beginnings of seams stretching, a sound he had an unfortunate familiarity with. So with an irritated sigh, he sat back up to look over at the Celestial Mage to his left, her heart-shaped face beaming with amusement. Muttering under his breath as he waved one of the hired bartenders down, "I hate this jacket, I hate this tie, I hate all these people and I'm going to get drunk to make it better."

Giving the grumbling dragon a sympathetic smile before pushing his shoulder and motioning him to turn his body to face hers as she shook her head, her voice full of the sympathy still present on her face, "Turn here, sweets. I'll let you off the hook since you saved me twice in passed thirty minutes," before leaning forward, loosening his tie and pulling it from his collar before stuffing it in the pocket of his jacket and standing to, albeit reluctantly, pull the jacket from his body and lay it over the bar for now. Making her way to stand between his open knees, she made quick work of his perfectly suited cuff links before leaning over his arm to put them in the pocket with his tie, practically bending over in the Lightning Mages lap. Completely missing both the hungry look in his eye and the tightening of his fitted pants as she rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up over his forearms, only stopping to order two double shots of whiskey from the sweet brunette bartending, before finishing the other sleeve and taking a half step back to look up at the smirking dragon, her voice easy as unbuttoned his top three buttons, "Better?"

Snaking an arm around her back before pulling her tight against his sculpted chest, "Much better, Blondie."

When the bartender came back, she was eyeing the two gorgeous blondes dreamily before setting the shots down and backing away slowly, smile spread across her face until she ran into the bartender next to her and blushed before getting back to work.

Giggling at the scene, Lucy picked the two shots up as she twisted her body to hand Laxus one, "What should we toast to, my anti-social hermit dragon?"

Raising a brow at her label for him, his voice incredulous as he took the glass of amber liquid from her lithe hand, "Your anti-social...hermit...dragon?...really?"

Winking at him playfully before patting his chest, "That's what I said, now toast mister."

Groaning loudly before holding his shot up and clearing his throat, "To getting hammered before midnight and to the annoying little blonde who tricked me into having to," hitting his glass off hers before downing his shot with a slight wince before setting the glass down and ordering another.

"Wow, it's shocking, really, how you don't have more friends, Laxus," drawling sarcastically before downing her own shot with an ease that rivaled the guild's resident drunk and making the same motion to the sweet bartender before adding, voice raspy from the alcohol, "You never answered my question and I'm pretty relentless when it comes to getting the information I want."

While his thumb was tracing over the well-defined curve of her gold-wrapped waist, his other hand was leaning against the bar like he wanted to do from the beginning, thankful for the habit since it's what got the Celestial Mage between his legs, his voice was easy and lazy, "Pretty much this, except at my very quiet home where I can drink myself into oblivion naked and without having to worry about controlling the urge to electrocute people," pausing to run his knuckles lightly over her exposed collarbone before his voice dipped low, "Unless you wanted to ditch the party and join me there instead."

"Tempting but I almost broke my leg putting those," pointing up the rafters where her lights where twinkling, "up on some rickety ancient ladder, so you'll have to take a rain check," giving him an easy smile before noticing his wicked grin at what she just agreed to do.

His voice was teeming with the devious notes his deep blue eyes held in their swirling pools, "That was surprisingly easy, Blondie."

Narrowing her eyes at the tall mage before picking up the next round of shots, "What was?"

Taking the shot from her hand as he answered easily, "Getting a date from the infamously single Light of Fairy Tail."

Choking on her own spit at his words, she cleared her throat before her voice came out breathy and incredulous, "A date? Infamously single?! What the fuck?"

The older mage was in utter bliss watching the sly little minx stutter at his words, adorable blush spreading across her cheeks as he held his glass up, "It's your toast, sweetheart."

Glaring up at him from beneath her lashes, she hissed out, "We will be coming back to this," before holding her glass up, "To lightweight dragons who don't know when to shut up and to an annoying hulk of a blonde who tricked me into a date with him," tapping her glass with a little ' _cheers'_ motion before going through the familiar motions of downing the shot and ordering another, watching in amusement as his face scrunched as he slammed the glass down.

His voice was throaty as he shook his head, "First off, I am not a lightweight but that was cute and second, I didn't trick you. I offered in earnest and you agreed."

"Okay, okay, I'll give you the second but the first is still under review, Captain Cringe, and we are going to circle back to the 'infamously single' statement because I would like to know more about that," crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to look stern.

He actually let out an annoyed sigh as he breathed out, "Do you know how many times I get asked about you while I'm trying to do guild business? When I'm on a call, when I'm at the Master's meetings, when I'm walking home from the fucking guild, and every time, they ask me 'is she seeing anyone?' and every time I get to tell them that you don't have any fucking spare time for dating between helping me with guild shit and jobs with your team and you want to know the worst part? They always look at me like I'm the one whose keeping you locked up, preventing you from dating. It only furthers my very intense hatred for the human beings outside this guild."

Blinking owlishly at the mini rant by the usually stoic and unfeeling man before gathering herself long enough to choke out, "Whoa...that was a _lot_ of aggro. Do you know what'll help?"

Answering with a deadpan, "You getting a boyfriend?"

"What? No, you seeing if you can keep up with me. I see the way you take shots and I know you are strictly a beer guy so I'm pretty sure I've got this one in the bag," patting his thigh in a careless motion.

Giving the confident Celestial Mage a narrowed glare, he waved the bartender down to ask for six double shots and growling under his breath as he turned back to the confident Celestial Mage, "Fuck that, I'm about to drink you under the table, little woman. It's a matter size at this point and no offense," giving her a very blatant assessing look from her head to her toes before continuing with a smirk, "but that tight little body of yours will give out before mine."

Letting his ego inflate, she leaned over his leg, her hip rubbing against the bulge of his pants, to pull her shots in front of her before her sugary melodic voice called over her shoulder to him, "Then this should be a piece of cake for a big, strong, man like yourself."

XxX

When the countdown finally ended, the ball drop in Crocus bursting with colors across the huge lacrima tv, Lucy leaned over to press a sweet kiss to the cheek of the Lightning Slayer slumped over the bar top nest to her, having been long since passed out for most of the night, before pulling away and leaning back on her elbows, a devilish grin spread across her lips.


	9. RoLu Ending

~Though Rogue made a pretty impressive comeback and tied with Laxus, he still didn't take the top spot.

One more hour then you'll get the big smexy scene with the very oblivious Lucy!~

* * *

The moment Rogue stepped through the doors of Fairy Tail's guild, Frosch started calling for Lucy, his little voice catching the attention of everyone except the Celestial Mage the poor little guy wanted. When the Shadow Slayer finally caught the oldest Strauss' attention after she finished giving the mass of people their official welcome to the New Years Eve party, her sapphire eyes sparkled with something he often saw in the Celestial Mage of his own guild. To put an end to anything that could come from that sparkle, he quickly took charge of the conversation, "Excuse me, Mira, but where is Lucy? Frosch has been waiting all day to see her and I can't find her."

"That's because we locked her in the backroom," her smile beaming, as if that answered his question and left no room for further inquiry from the Dragon Slayer.

His eyes narrowed from behind the simple black silk mask, swirls of matte black overlaying its sheen to produce a smokey effect, little obsidian peaks extended from the points of his eyes like little horns before blending into the inky black of his hair which had been pulled half back in a traditional bun at the crown of his head. The costume Virgo had left behind after Sting's girlish screams filled the guild was exquisite; the traditional style black kimono had long sleeves that fell almost to his knees, black embroidered patterns matching the swirls of his mask licked up the silk of the long jacket-like outer layer, a simple black robe-style shirt covered his chest before being tucked into loose matching pants, the sash wrapped around his waist had a tarnished gold look to it and offered the only variation of color of his outfit. His voice was questioning as he asked the silver-haired woman tentatively, "Why would you lock her in the backroom exactly?"

"To make the big reveal more..." her face got bright, surprised even as her hands came to either side of her pink mask and gave little wiggly jazz hands, with a finality that gave him the distinct impression like that was supposed to clear things up for him.

In an effort to skip the explanation, he took a different approach, "Where is this backroom exactly?"

Wordlessly, the Takeover Mage started walking behind the bar, which made the younger Slayer have to assume she wanted him to follow her and that she would be leading him to the room she locked Lucy in.

In a Vana White-like sweeping gesture, Mira stopped in front of the door, her voice cheery as she announced, "Your maiden eagerly awaits you, Dragon."

When Rogue heard the familiar bright, lilting voice of the Celestial Mage from behind the door, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Is that you Mira? I swear to Mavis, if you don't let me out of this...this closet, I'll call Taurus out to rip the door right out of the wall. You didn't even turn the lights on in here before you locked the door!"

Mira called over her shoulder through the door, "Don't worry, Lucy, you're dragon in shining armor has arrived and he has a very adorable little helper who is very excited to see you."

Without hesitation, her voice grew antsy, excited as she responded, "Rogue? Fucking hell, will you please let me out of the backroom already?"

With the same chill-inducing sweet smile as before, Mira handed him a key and walked back through the crowd, disappearing without another word. Frosch looked up at his Slayer, his little brows furrowed as he spoke, "Fro doesn't know if Fro likes her."

Moving to unlock the door with the key the matchmaker gave him without explanation, he answered his exceed easily, "Me either, Frosch."

As soon as she heard the lock click, the blonde pulled the door open and searched for Meredy or Mira, either one would do at this point, in a angry rush before she heard the very excited voice of her favorite exceed and lost all desire for revenge, "Mama Lucy! Fro has been looking for you. Fro thinks you look really pretty."

Picking him up from out of Rogue's arms to give the exceed a kiss before hugging him into her chest, her voice back to its usual sweet lilt, "Why thank you, baby. Did you have a fun time on the train ride here?," she asked the exceed before turning to take in the Shadow Dragon, her brow raising as her smile brightened, wrapping her free arm around his body in a half-hug, sort-of greeting as she waited for Frosch to answer.

"Papa and Fro played Go Fish for most of the ride until Fro fell asleep," his little paw traced over her necklace before asking earnestly, "Where'd Mama get such a pretty necklace?"

Granting the adorable cat a gentle smile, her free hand traced the gold lovingly, "It was my Mama's necklace, doesn't it match my dress perfectly?," twirling them in a little circle, earning a bout of giggles from the sweet little cat in her arms.

"Fro would like to find Lector so he can see your pretty dress, too," stating matter-of-factly before looking to Rogue, asking for permission since the exceed has a habit of getting lost at the most random times.

With a small chuckle, his voice smooth as he gave his exceed an affectionate pat, "Please be careful of all the people. We will stay right here until you get back."

"Okay, Papa! Fro will be right back," turning back to look up at Lucy with big, adorable saucer eyes, "Will you put me down, please?"

The Celestial Mage let out a little squeal before setting him down and on his way, watching his little pink body disappear into the sea of legs before speaking casually, not looking away from where she had last seen Frosch, "Your costume was one of my favorites. I'm impressed Virgo managed to put together a mask to compliment it perfectly, though I kind of miss the scar."

"Your spirit, Capricorn, was adamant while he was assisting me with it, that I looked like a 'warrior' and he insisted I pull my hair back as well," equally as distracted by his exceed getting lost in the sea of legs.

Breaking her line of vision, she turned to face him, starting a slow circle around him as she hummed a tune he didn't recognize before ending directly in front of him, her voice genuinely impressed, "It's a good look for you."

"You think so?" smirk quirking the corner of his mouth up as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Definitely," before taking a step back, her arms sweeping wide as she gave him a turn, her voice light and airy, "I know what Frosch thinks of my outfit, but what does Papa Rogue think?" blinking her lashes at him playfully.

Taking a step forward, his hand low on the curve of her back as his voice dipped lower, still smooth, as it all but caressed her face, "You are the most beautiful woman in this room, Lu," pausing for a moment before ducking to whisper in her ear, "and the dress is pretty as well."

Her sweet giggles were music to his ears as she laid a hand on his chest, her golden eyes dancing with mirth as she pulled back from him enough to look into his deep red pools, her voice teasing, "I don't know about that but I'll definitely take a compliment from the sexiest man in the room."

Before he could respond to the little blonde in his arms, he felt Fro pull at the material of his kimono, Lector's voice interrupting the easy back and forth, "Frosch says your necklace was your Mama's and that you have the prettiest dress in the world, but I can't see your necklace from here."

With an easy smile directed up at the handsome Slayer, she crouched down to show the little red-furred exceed the thick gold at her neck, chuckling as he easily climbed onto her bent knees, "What do you think?"

His paw came to rest on his chin as if in deep thought before he gave her a smile, his voice excited, "I think you're pretty enough to be Sting's mate."

Trying to muffle her laughter at the exceed's, she managed to get out, her voice heavy with shock, "Oh, yeah?"

Frosch's little frog-suited body made it's way onto her lap, his voice surprisingly stern, "No, no, Mama already has a Papa," turning to look up at Rogue's face, asking in earnest, "Right, Papa?"

His mouth opened and closed a few times at the innocent question from his exceed, not quite sure how to answer without actually knowing what the appropriate response is. Thankfully Lucy managed to overcome her fit a giggles to answer for him, "That's right, Fro, but that doesn't mean I don't still love you, Lector." Posing her next statement more towards the Slayer than the exceeds in her lap, "Though I am curious where you heard about mates."

She was surprised to hear the sweet, green exceed answer brightly, "Papa and Sting were talking about it after you left and Fro knows it's when a Mama and a Papa dragon love each other a lot and they have little baby dragons and live together and sleep together and grow old together, like my Mama and Papa," his proud smile spread across his face as he held his arms up to his dragon, who was blushing something fierce under his mask.

With a very easy and light giggle, she cradled the cats in her arms to stand, letting Frosch move to Rogue's arms before motioning him to follow her up to the S-Class lounge. Pausing before heading up the stairs to look down at the visibly upset exceed still in her arms, her voice gentle as she asked, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

His little brows were furrowed tight as he asked, "Are you still my Mama?"

"What? Of course I am, as long as you still want me to be," scratching behind his ear, earning a little smile from the vested cat.

Nodding his head decidedly, "I do. Let me down so I can tell Papa Sting. Please."

Setting the little cat down, she watched him effortlessly navigate the sea of people to find the White Dragon Slayer before turning back to his counterpart, "Come on, I feel like enjoying the view from the balcony and it'll be easier to talk up there."

Leading them to one of the couches on the far end of the second story before motioning for the mage to sit while she turned to talk to one of the waitstaff. After a quick conversation, Lucy filled the spot next to the grinning dragon, her voice cheeky as it drawled to him, "I have to warn you, I'm a cuddly drunk so I'm sorry if that bothers you."

"I'm getting the distinct impression you are just a person who is inclined to cuddle in every state being," rolling his eyes to meet hers playfully.

Pointedly snuggling in beside him, she looked up to the lights before answering, "Yeah, that sounds like me."

The little sigh she let out as he lifted his arm from the back of the couch to wrap around her shoulder was enough to make the trip well worth it, but when her fingers laced through his, her face grew as bright as the twinkling lights above them as she looked up at him, her voice teasing as she asked, "So you and Sting talked about mates right after I left Sabertooth, eh?"

The choking noise that escaped his lips at her forward question before his nerves settled, his voice hesitant as he explained, "Well...the subject was brought up and then...your name was brought up...and Frosch overheard which of course meant Lector overheard. What do you know about it, mating I mean?"

Rolling her eyes at his dodgy answer, answered matter-of-factly, "Ryos, I am a part of a guild with five Dragon Slayers. I know all about mates."

"And...?"

"And what?" Her breathy laughter filled his ears before she continued, "I am not the instigating party in that exchange, my dragon is."

"Your dragon is?"

"That is what I said. When my dragon realizes I'm his mate, it's all up to him."

"When?"

Teasing the Shadow Slayer good-naturedly, "You would make an excellent mockingbird."

Letting out an exasperated huff, he turned his gaze back down to Frosch, who was very happily humming along to the music coming from the speakers before his voice, deep and smooth, spoke quietly, "But you know which dragon is your mate."

"I do," tilting her head to the side to try to met his ruby eyes unsuccessfully.

"Hm, I suppose that you will find your way to him before midnight then," his voice seemed too far-away as he squeezed her hand, his exceed climbing down from his lap to watch the people dance below the railing.

With a small shake of her head, she had to put effort into keeping the laughter from her voice, "I have already done so."

"Then you'll be mated and you probably won't be able to visit Frosch," completely missing her words as he continued his inner monologue.

The blonde was totally up for seeing how long it would take before the dragon beside her realizes what she said as she mused, "I think it would make visiting Frosch easier actually."

"...and I'll have to explain why we can't have anymore sleepovers..."

"Yeah, I feel like every now and then, we would have to send him to stay with Auntie Yuki for adult only sleepovers."

"...and it would break his-wait...what?" shaking his head as her words processed, his deep pools swirling with confusion.

Pulling her hand from his to lay it on the muscles of his thigh, her voice playful, "I said, we would have to send him to Yukino's for a few 'Mama-Papa' sleepovers," the smile she had been trying desperately to hide had emerged as his eyes widened and his blush spread.

The flustered dragon swallowed thickly before finding his voice, "Are you saying that... you think I'm your mate?"

"It would be weird if that wasn't what I was saying, Ryos," reaching over to pat his chest before their drinks were delivered and interrupted their conversation. With an easy smile, Lucy thanked the woman before taking the drinks, handing the stunned raven haired Slayer a rum and coke as she took a sip of her strawberry daiquiri. When she swallowed the delicious frozen drink, she turned to silent dragon beside her, "Are you going to be okay, hun?"

He raised a hand to run it through his hair before remembering the mask, settling on putting his hand over hers, his voice back to its normal smooth drawl, "I am definitely okay. I just was not expecting leave here with a mate."

"So do I have to wait until midnight for you to kiss me or..." turning her hand over to lace her fingers with his.

"That depends on whether or not I'm allowed to take your mask off," giving the blonde a smirk as he played with the golden ribbon at the back of her head.

"That depends on whether or not yours comes off, too," not waiting for his answer before loosening his mask and pulling it from his face, setting her drink on the table next to him before plucking his from his hand and setting it next hers, his mask carefully laid over the arm of the couch.

As she moved back to sit beside him, his fingers untied her mask without disturbing her hair, easing it from her face and setting it next to his before cupping her face in his hands, his lips meeting hers in a sweet kiss, taking her in slowly as if he had all the time in the world to get to know the way her lips felt moving with his, the way she tasted like vanilla and strawberries on his tongue as he licked the soft skin of her bottom lip, the way she immediately opened her mouth to him to let him in which only made a deep, instinctual growl rumble through his chest. Her breathy whimpers were his reward as he pulled back to lean his forehead against hers. She immediately started peppering his nose with feathery kisses as he purred at her actions.

Her voice was dreamy between kisses, "Mavis, that has got to be the most amazing sound in all of Earthland."

His smooth laughter sounded, lighting a fire in her belly before he ran a thumb over her cheek, "I'm glad you like the completely involuntary noises my dragon makes, Lu."


	10. CoLu Ending

~Well I don't if you guessed it or not, but Cobra was the winner of this little Lucy competition so without further ado, here is the CoLu ending with a nice healthy dose of smutty smut.

Happy New Year wonderful humans who took the time to vote, pm, and read my stories. You are amazing and I live for y'all so keep it up, lovelies!~

* * *

When Bright Eyes' little maid spirit intruded into his bedroom, the Poison Slayer almost shot the woman a very scathing comment about breaking and entering in on someone's home and waking them from their sleep, but she quickly disappeared before he could even rub his hand heavily down his face at the sudden intrusion. As he leaned up on his elbow to look at what the pinkette was so excited about, the smooth fabric of his deep green sheets falling away from his deeply tanned, well-defined body, to take in a black garment bag and a box with a note. His natural curiosity got them better of him as his bare feet crossed the cool stone floor of his little home tucked far away from Magnolia and unzipped the bag; the scaled burgundy material bringing a smirk to his face as he shook his head, voice quiet, "I'll be damned, Bright Eyes."

Abandoning the smooth fabric to pick up the note, beautiful sweeping script that belonged to the Celestial Mage herself scrawled across the clean white parchment ' _I hope you like the costume! I can't wait to see you and your mask tonight at the party. -Bright Eyes P.S. I haven't forgotten about my promise.'_ Setting the note back down on the locked box on top of his dresser, he ran a hand through his hair before muttering out, "Neither have I...neither have I," turning to head back to the sweet, soft embrace of his bed to head back to sleep. There was absolutely no force on Earthland that could get him to go to the guild one moment before seven. He was not getting roped into any of the matchmakers schemes, especially since the demon's ways have multiplied in the body of the Maguilty Mage Lucy loved so much.

XxX

As he stood outside the back doors of the guild a quarter after seven, he was starting to feel the very intense need to turn back around and head the fuck home and away from the sea of people with their loud faces, their loud thoughts and their loud feelings all grinding away at the inside of his brain. That is until he heard the distinct sound of the Celestial Mage's soul and he was pushing through the door to sneak in through the back so he could avoid most of too happy mages of Fiore and take his usual spot at the end of the bar to fulfill his end of their bargain.

He was surprised to see she and the Demon had hired bartenders and waitstaff so no one missed out on the festivities of the evening, though the idiot bartender at the opposite side of the bar who was leaned over the wooden top to flirt shamelessly with Bright Eyes, he could do without.

As if she could sense his deadly and reluctant presence at the bar, her shining bright orbs met his and with a small gasp from the little woman, she all but deserted her post leaned over the bar top where she was making sure the staff all knew where everything was and letting them know that they could always find Mira or herself if there were any problems to weave through the people to stand in front of him, her hands clasped behind her back as she looked up at him from beneath her lashes.

The Poison Dragon was utterly and completely mesmerized by the way she glowed under her twinkling lights, the gold of her dress making her creamy skin look positively delectable as it hugged the curves of her body, but what really topped it off was the way her soul's song dipped with his, a perfect melody to compliment his harmony. When her hand came up to trace over his mask, her face open and genuine, he had to resist the urge feel her hand in his once again.

As her fingertips traced over the deep green spiked scales of his mask that covered most of his handsome face, the place where his scarred eye would have been visible instead had an intricate, slitted emerald made to look like a snakes eye, the scales turning deep burgundy as the spikes blended into his own maroon soft hair, his bright amethyst eye standing out as it sparkled with it's usual jewel-like brilliance against the dark scales framing it, a small toothless smile spread across her lips. With a little flick to the tuft of hair that never seemed to want to slick back with the rest of his hair, she whistled low before stepping back to take in the long, purplish-burgundy jacket that matched the scales of his mask, unbuttoned to reveal the deep emerald silk of his dress shirt, a healthy sliver of his deeply tanned and toned chest exposed from the top four buttons being undone before being tucked into a pair of slacks that matched the burgundy of his jacket.

"Well fuck, you should wear this again," her dress swishing as she followed him to his usual bar stool before adding under her breath, "Or all the time. Either way..." Earning a throaty chuckle from the Poison Slayer as he called the bartender over.

Leaning against the bar, restraining his dragons urge to purr as Lucy came up beside him, her body tight against his from the lack of room surrounding the wooden bar top, his voice husky as he bent down to reach her ear, "What'll you be drinking this evening, Bright Eyes?"

The shudder that racked his body that he was not quick enough to suppress as her breath danced over the pointed shell of his ear with her easy reply, "I'm not drinking tonight. I lost rock, paper, scissors after they let me out of the closet."

His amethyst eye narrowed at her words, wrapping an arm around her waist to save her from a tipsy mage from Quatro Cerberus' clumsy spilling of his drink in the space she had just vacated, before looking down at her, her body pinned between his and the bar, "Why the fuck did they trap you in a closet?"

Smiling to the poor apologetic mage before looking up at the man beneath the serpent mask, her voice breathy from her rescue and their closeness, "You'd have to ask Mira and Mer. They just shoved me in there and didn't let me out until about ten minutes ago. You know how they are," with a shrug of her bare shoulder, she turned around to lean over the bar to whisper his usual to the female bartender, letting her know where it's kept and that it is poisonous so only she or Cobra could order it.

Whether she intended it or not, she had pressed the curves of her back into the tight fabric covering his pelvis and the fact that he had no idea whether she had meant to press her delicious curves into his pelvis only added to the fire in his veins that only she brought out within him. Ever since the dragon fiasco in Crocus she's been this bundle of sweet, soothing melodies and only if she was feeling something strongly, would he get this overwhelming wave of her emotion, but that's it. Or at least that's what he thought until she let him into her head for a brief flash the day after Christmas.

His thoughts were shaken as her hand pressed over his chest, her thumb tracing languid strokes over the bare skin of his pecs as she tilted her head, her voice questioning, "Did you hear me, Erik?"

"I can't hear anything except the vapid thoughts of the mages of Fiore and the ungodly ringing of bells. Hundreds of tiny bells," giving the giggling blonde a venomous glare before seething, "You did that on purpose. And you gave the loudest costume to the other Celestial Mage who never stops dancing at these ridiculous parties. Dick move, Bright Eyes."

She pinched his cheek patronizingly as she cooed to the tall dragon, "Awweh, my little acid spitter doesn't like Yuki's perfect belly dancer costume? That's too bad because those little fuckers took hours to sew on so you'll have to forgive my lack of sympathy."

Snapping his pointed teeth playfully at her hand, voice throaty, "I don't have to do jack shit except sit my ass down at this bar and try not to let my poison 'accidentally' leak out while I wait for your countdown to end and I can go the fuck home."

Unfazed by his venom of his words, she smiled up at him, bright and blinding before her voice turned back to it's usual cheery lilt, "You'll forgive me anyway and you know it." Turning to thank the bartender for the low tumbler of poisoned booze before reaching her arm back behind the bar to grab the bottle of Mira's belladonna bourbon and setting them both on the counter beside her before asking the dragon, "So you'll be right here until the countdown is over?"

With a small nod, he answered with a lazy drawl, "Scaring the other mages with my acidic glares and witty remarks," before taking a sip of his drink, the delicious smooth liquid burning his throat the whole way down.

Absently nodding at his words as she smiled at the low purrs rolling off his toned, tall frame before turning to leave.

But after one successful step away from the man, she felt his hand grip her wrist, his voice smooth but the faint notes of apprehension did not go unnoticed by the little blonde, "Where are you going, Bright Eyes?"

Giving the Slayer a knowing smirk and a cheeky wink, she twisted her hand to squeeze his before answering just as cheekily as her wink, "I think it's time I go pull my fellow Celestial Mage from the dance floor for a much needed break."

"You saint of a woman," his voice half a whisper through his teeth as relief flooded his face.

Her voice was bright and teasing as she rubbed circles over the back of his hand, "I can't have you committing mass murder before midnight, Pretty Boy"

"Always ruining my good fun. Now go control the little star girl before I melt those little bells right off her dress," turning back towards the bar to down the rest of his drink and pour himself another.

Before she could get too far away, her voice slithered into his ear, "I'll see you in a few hours, Erik," effectively making the usually surly mage smile wide and toothy, his canines gleaming under the soft lightning from above.

The moment Lucy made her way through the crowd where Yukino was twisting and jumping with Levy and Lisanna, she grabbed her fellow Celestial Mage, shooting a quick, "Sorry, I need to borrow her!" over her shoulder before making her way towards the tables set up on the outskirts of the guild. She could almost hear the sigh of relief from the Poison Dragon when the younger mage sat down in a breathless heap, still for the first time since the DJ started bumping music from the speakers all around the guild as she tiled her head, her bright blue mask adorned with gold flowers cocking to side from being jostled by her constant moving, "What did you need, Lucy?"

Looking out over the familiar crowd of happy, smiling faces, she turned to answer the little mage, "Hmm? Oh, right...I needed to borrow you."

Narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the blonde, "Lucy..."

"Yes...?"

Giving her a knowing smirk as she poked her finger into her chest, "This wouldn't have anything to do with your New Years kiss problem, would it?"

Shaking her head in genuine confusion, the blonde turned her body to face Sabertooth's very own matchmaker, "I have a New Years kiss problem? Since when?"

"Since you started this whole New Years Eve party schpeal! The only reason you got out of it last year was because Cana _dared_ you to kiss Loke at midnight," her voice incredulous as if the blonde should have known that.

"Waitwaitwait, what the heck is my problem exactly?" holding her hands out as if her confusion was so great, she needed to physically work it out of her body through sweeping arm gestures and emphatic hand motions.

Sighing deeply, the younger mage's voice reminded Lucy of when adults lost patience trying to explain things to small children, which she didn't know how to feel about it being directed at her, "Lu, you have a guild hall full of men who are ready to do whatever it takes to get to your side before the new year starts because they genuinely are that desperate to kiss you."

"What?! That's ridiculous, Yukino. All the men under this roof don't see me as anything more than the Light of Fairy Tail and a fellow mage." Tacking on as she eyed the bar, "Well I hope not _all_ of them..."

Completely missing the blonde's amber eyes flicking to the maroon haired dragon currently talking with Jellal, she threw her arms out in frustration before rubbing her cheek, her voice just as incredulous as before, "Are you _serious?_ You must be mental if you think that the majority of the male population in this room isn't infatuated with you, especially in this outfit, sheesh," gesturing to her form-fitting gown with a look that mimicked her first sentence of blatant disbelief.

Running her hand over the deep blue gems of her dress fondly before ducking her head and motioning for the Celestial Mage to join her so Lucy could whisper in her ear low enough that even the keen senses of the Dragon Slayers couldn't hear her voice, "I already know who I'm going to be with the countdown ends, Yuki."

"YOU DO?!"

Clamping her hand over the younger mages mouth before hissing out as she looked around to see only a few questioning glances in there direction, "Shit woman, I am right next to you." Pulling her hand away tentatively as she slowly backed away, giving her a look of ' _can I continue_?" before the makeshift belly dancer gave her a quick, eager nod. With a sigh she put her hand up over her mouth to cup her words into Yukino's ear, "I'm going to just...make my way to the bar before the countdown starts."

Confusion wrinkled her friends face so tight, even with the mask over her eyes, Lucy knew she was going to have to clarify more as the light blue of her hair tilted to the side once again, "The...bar. Where no one will be at midnight...I don't get it, Lu-" her eyes had wandered from the pleading eyes of the older Celestial Mage to the bar in question to make very intense eye contact with the Poison Slayer as the bells of her skirt jingled with her abrupt movement to cross her legs and uncross them in a nervous habit, " _Fuck_."

"Yukino! I don't think I've ever heard you swear! What's the matter with-"

Not breaking the eye contact with Cobra as a devilish smirk curled her lips, "Holy fucking shit. That is incredibly unexpected and yet, still impressive. Even for you, Lu."

"I'm still not sure what's going on..." following her line of vision to the smirking older dragon hunched over the bar, his eye leaving Yukino's to focus straight ahead when Lucy noticed the impromptu staring contest, "Oh. Well, I guess that sort of cleared things up."

Returning to her normal, giddy, too bubbly ways, the younger mage leaned her chin on her palm as she turned to face Lucy, settling in as if she expected to be sitting on the bench for a while, "So, tell me how that happened."

Chuckling at her good friends antics, she mirrored her position as spent the majority of the night telling Yukino pretty much every interaction she and the Poison Dragon have had, simultaneously satisfying her friend's curiosity and keeping her from the dance floor as long as possible.

When she ran her hand over her keys, attached to a garter on her thighs, to find she and her fellow Celestial Mage had talked away hours between the two of them, she gave the shorter woman a hug before turning to make her way to the bar, pausing only when Yukino gave her an encouraging smack to her butt and a wink before disappearing into the crowd.

Weaving through the crowd of people who were entranced by the massive lacrima tv with the royal New Years show streaming live from Crocus, dodging glasses of champagne and careless elbows before she found herself bent over on the outskirts of the crowd, breathing heavily from the closeness of the bodies around her. When she felt a hand on the small of her back, she straightened too fast and her vision swam for a minute, making her swoon just a bit.

"Fuck, Bright Eyes, are you sure you didn't drink anything tonight?," concern laced his words as he kept her from falling over.

Blinking the spots of her vision away in rapid motions so she could look up at the darkened skin of his face, her hand tracing over the soft skin of his lips as she answered, airy and light, "Pretty sure."

His deep, throaty chuckle filled her chest as he shook his head, "I appreciate your swift handling of the bell situation by the way. You've saved every single person in this room. They owe you a debt they'll never be able to repay." It was not going unnoticed that she had yet to move out of his arms or that her bright, golden eyes kept darting over the lip her thumb was ghosting over. Before he could think better of it, his voice dipped low, "What are you doing over in my dark corner, Bright Eyes? They are about to drop the ball."

With a too-easy smile, she answered matter-of-factly, "That's exactly why I'm over in your dark corner, Pretty Boy."

His grin turned devious as it twisted up across his sharp angular face, he could hear the crowd around them counting down, "I should have known after the young Celestial Mage's little outburst at the beginning of the night."

Scoffing as her hand snaked around his neck, playing with the ends of his hair, her smirk only deepened as she breathed, "Probably should have known long before that, Erik."

The moment the guild erupted in cheers, his lips met hers in a easy kiss that quickly turned desperate. Her soft lips moved with his as his tongue ran along the seam of them, plunging into her mouth the moment she granted him access like a man starved. Their tongues tangled in a fierce dance, the bitter-sweet taste of his spiked drink coating her lips, pulling a low moan from her chest as he made sure to lick the remnants of the toxins from them before pulling back and running his own thumb over her swollen, puffy bottom lip.

He couldn't help but laugh as her voice came out breathless and somehow, still full of the cheer she breathed out with every exhale, "Happy New Year, Pretty Boy."

Rolling his eyes as he leaned in for another kiss, his voice half a scoff through his grin, "Yeah, whatever, Bright Eyes."

Completely lost in the Poison Slayer, she hadn't noticed him backing them into the back hall that lead out the door to the training grounds at the back of the guild until her bar shoulders were pressed into the cold wall, earning a shocked intake from her lips, breaking the contact between them as she breathed out, her back arcing away from the frigid wood, "Cold...cold wall."

His deep laughter had his breath dancing over her lips, only making the goosebumps to spread down the backs of arms before he backed away and pulled his jacket from body to drape it around her body. Shoving his hands into his pockets before taking a few steps back towards the door and with a quick nod of his head to let the blonde know he wanted her to follow him, he pushed the back doors open and waited for her to put her arms in the sleeves of his scaled jacket as she walked through the door.

His voice was lazy as he lead her back around to the front of the guild, "You'll need to get a change of clothes."

Tilting her head towards the Poison Slayer, her voice reflected the confusion that pulled at the features of her face, "What do I need a change of clothes for?"

Meeting her gaze easily, he asked simply, "Do you plan on wearing that dress tomorrow morning for breakfast?"

"No?"

Turning his head to stare forward, he reiterated as he started walking towards Strawberry Street, "Then you'll need a change of clothes."

Quickly catching up to his long strides, the little blonde's voice still held the same innocent curiosity, "But Virgo could get me a change of clothes now if I wanted to...I don't see why you are leading us to my apartment..."

Giving her a devious smirk as took her chin in his hand, "Fuck, Bright Eyes, your innocence almost makes me feel like a bad person," before running the pad of his thumb over her still-swollen bottom lip, making her breathless with anticipation.

When his hand abruptly left her face, she whimpered lightly as he turned to head across the bridge of the canal, making it halfway there before calling back to her, "Better catch up before something worse than me snatches you up, Bright Eyes."

Realizing just how far away the maroon-haired man had gotten from her, she lifted her skirt to prevent herself from tripping as she jogged to fall in step beside him, her voice still confused as she breathed out, "Do I want to know why you are leading me into the woods in the middle of the night?"

Rolling his amethyst eye dramatically, he turned his head to look down at her, voice incredulous, "Where do you think I live, Bright Eyes?"

Her smile wide and toothy as she quipped back, her voice bright, "Under a rock? In a deep, dark, dank cave? Maybe a nice basket with a little lid to keep you inside until a man with a flute lures you out?"

"It's a pungi and I don't particularly like cramped spaces, especially wet ones," letting out a little shudder as the path beneath their feet gave way to a narrow dirt path, their conversation fading into easy, comfortable silence. Lucy was focused on trying not to break her ankle on a loose stone since she wasn't aware she would need to go on a hike in the platform golden heels currently strapped to her feet.

After a solid thirty minutes of her careful steps and close calls, she all but huffed out to the completely uncaring man two steps ahead of her, "Are we walking all the way to Bosco?"

With a roll of his eye, he paused briefly to extend his hand out to her to help her up the last bit of trail towards his home, his voice low as he spoke, "We are almost there, woman. Maybe you should wear shoes you can walk in next time."

Taking his hand in hers as she lifted the heavy material of her skirt at the trails sudden incline, her voice exasperated as she mumbled under her breath, "I _can_ walk in these shoes, that doesn't mean I want to go for a fucking hike in them." Earning a husky chuckle from the Poison Slayer at her side.

Shooting him a glare, her voice turned haughty as she kept her eyes on the ground, "I get why you live so far away from Magnolia but why on Earthland do you live up the side of a mountain?"

A scoff fell from his lips at her childish complaint, his deep voice talking a teasing quality as his hand tightened around hers to keep her from tripping over a branch she obviously missed in her huffy state, "There are less living creatures the higher you go and I like to sleep in relative peace and quiet."

"That's weird. I thought you spent all your free time plotting the cruel and usual deaths of the people around you, falling asleep to the sweet sounds of crying children whose candy you've stolen," breathless by the time they hit the crest of the hill that had turned rocky in the last ten minutes of walking.

Peeling her eyes from the ground to look up, she saw the small stone cottage, its west wall completely made of thick panes of glass, before smirking up at the handsome maroon-haired dragon, her voice sly, "So, you **do** live under a rock."

"I don't have to let you in," letting go of her hand to walk up to the little front porch before opening the door, her golden wrapped framed all but shoved him out of the way of his own door.

Calling over her shoulder as she stepping into the open layout of his home, "Where's your bedroom? I have to see for my own eyes that you sleep in a real bed."

Pulling his mask from his face and setting it down on the counter of his kitchen, his voice was deep and low as she continued flitting about his home, commenting on everything and anything, "Don't worry, Bright Eyes, you'll get to know my bed intimately very soon," as he toed his shoes from his feet and stalled her constant motion by snaking his arm around her waist and taking her chin in his hand to tilt her masked face up towards his own, his lips a hairsbreadth from hers as her words fell away into silence, completely entranced by the hypnotizing purple of his eye, his voice husky, "Are you sure you want to see my bedroom, Bright Eyes? There's no telling when I'll let you leave once you're in my clutches."

The nod of her head made her lips brush over his as her voice, breathy and heady, answered without hesitation, "Promises, promises, Pretty Boy," before her hands made their way to the front of the emerald silk of his shirt and pulling it free from his waist, making quick work of the remaining three buttons and pushing the material from his shoulders.

Backing away from her just before she moved to close the gap between them, her hands sending wave after wave of heat to his member as they roved over every ridge and valley of his incredibly toned body, her lips pushed in a pout at the distance he put between them before he flipped her body around to undo the gold lacing of her dress.

When she felt him loosen it enough that should slip right out of the smooth satin, she stepped away from the sexy Slayer and took a few steps away from his reach, turning around to give him a playful look, her gold eyes shining with desire as her silky voice fell from her lips, "Do you remember the sneak peak into my head that I gave you at the guild?"

The corner of his lip quirked at the thought, his voice dangerously low, "How could I forget, Bright Eyes?"

Dropping the material of her dress to reveal the deepest wine colored set of completely see-through lace lingerie he had ever seen, the golden curls of above her core completely bare beneath the garter belt of her matching thigh high stockings, the trim matching perfectly with the lace covering only half of her breasts, her rosy nipples puckered beneath the thin material as she stepped out of her dress, the gold heels making the curves of her hips even more pronounced as she stalked backwards towards the only part of his home that she hadn't scoped out, the swell of her ample, creamy, chest shining under the moonlight as her arms lifted to untie the mask from her face, tossing it on the heap of her dress before pulling the pins from her golden hair. He was completely entranced in the way her lithe body flexed and moved as her silky curls cascaded around her, falling to flirt with the curves of her hips as she moved further and further away from him, her face a delicious mix of minxy mischief and salacious need before she turned around to call over her shoulder, her golden eyes shining from beneath her think lashes, framed in perfect golden wings, her voice sultry, "Does this clarify things for you, Erik?"

With only a few steps, he was pressing into the curves of her body, his hands running over the smooth skin of her back, making quick work of the hooks of her bra to let the light material fall to the floor, his palms immediately replacing the burgundy as his lips met the juncture of her neck and shoulder, sucking the skin as her sweet, throaty moans fell from her lips.

Pulling back so he could turn her around to face him, he let out a warning growl as she instead looped her hand into the waistband of his pants to pull him after her into his bedroom. The moment the back of her legs hit his bed, her lips were on the tanned skin stretched over his taut abs, her hands making impressively quick work of the zipper holding his pants up before she was pulled upright by the Poison Slayer, his lips meeting hers in a hungry display of his arousal as her arms snaked over his shoulders to grip the back of his neck, his hands gripping the flesh at her hips.

Suddenly, she had landed in a sea of silky soft deed forest green that smelled heavenly, rubbing her thighs together to ease the ache of her core as he smirked down at her body, a ferocious desire flashing in his slitted amethyst eye as he eased the scaled material of his pants from his hips, the rock-hard length of him finally free making the gorgeous woman splayed out over his bed, the golden silk of her hair a stark contrast to the deep color of his sheets.

In a slow, torturous motion, he moved to hover over the creamy curves of her body, the music of her soul was pulling him deeper and deeper into her when, out of the blue, he could see everything in her twisty, bright mind, the constant stream of thought focused solely on him and the slow build of their friendship to get them here, the deep seeded need she had for him, the way she desperately wanted to feel him move inside her. With the sudden barrage of her mind, he had to lean his forehead on her collarbone to get the shallow inhale and exhale of his breath to even out at the way she seemed to completely take his breath from him with the complex beauty of the way her soul calls to him on a basic, instinctual level, the feel of her dainty hands over his scalp, running through the length of his hair as her voice, dipping with genuine concern, soothed the sudden burst of her that had just taken him off guard, "I'm sorry, Erik. I should have warned you. I just...got distracted and I could feel the block shudder so I figured it would be easier to just let you in."

His breath was light across the skin of her chest as he whispered out, "Please, there's nothing to be sorry about. I just did not expect to hear you so...completely. You should keep the block down from now on though."

Chuckling under her breath as she leaned up on her elbows to take the heavy gold from her neck off, her voice airy, "And give you an advantage you don't need? Absolutely not, but I will let you more often," turning her body to put her mothers necklace on his side table before laying back down beneath him, her hands gliding down the scars crossed over the expanse of his back to grip his ass, raising her hips to grind her drenched core over the length of his cock, relishing in the hitch of his breath at her rough actions as her head fell backwards to expose the skin of her neck as his growl reverberated through her body. In a snap of his hips, he had filled her to the core, his hand gripping the stocking covered muscles of her thigh hard enough that she was sure he would leave bruises behind as he ripped through the thin material with his sharpened talons, his Dragon Force taking over as he pumped into her tight walls with an unforgiving, unrelenting pace that had her coil tightening too quickly for her nerves and her body to keep up as she clutched and clawed at skin of his back. When her nails grazed across the deep red scales of his shoulders, he let out a snarl that quickly turned to throaty growls before his arm wrapped around her back to lift her higher, her back arching in such a way that the smooth globes of her chest pushed up towards her collarbone that made him want her rosy peaks in his mouth. Without breaking pace, he lifted her high enough he could pull her nipple between his lips, his elongated fangs scraping over the sensitive flesh making her buck against him, meeting his thrusts with her own before her orgasm peaked and she was screaming his name, her nails clawing down the backs of his scaled arms, sending him into his own orgasmic frenzy, his hot seed pumping into her awaiting core as she gripped tightly, her walls fluttering and tensing to milk him of everything he had to offer her.

Falling back in a breathless heap on his silky sheets, she made little grabby motions with her hands so he would lay his bar, heaving chest on hers, the burgundy scales lined in white framing his perfectly sculpted chest all the way down to his tapered waist before growing patchy over the pronounced bones of his hips and thighs. The moment he did, her hands were back in his hair, her voice breathy as it danced through the tufts of maroon hair, "Do you do that a lot?"

Knowing she meant his Dragon Force taking over, he answered easily as the talons of his serpent-like arms tickled the curve of her creamy globe, "That has never happened before."

Humming an easy response at his motions, she asked, "How long will it last?"

Chuckling darkly at the very sexual thoughts dancing around her head, he leaned up on his elbow, her legs still wrapped around him even though his length had softened, his voice back to its smooth as silk tone, "I didn't realize you had such a dirty mind, Bright Eyes. Is that why you really keep me from your brain, little kinky woman?"

Shutting him from her thoughts, she smirked down at him, "Among other things," before rocking her hips into his, her nails trailing little absent circled down the softer white scales at the edges of his chest down his hips before pressing them into his pelvis, his cock already growing hard inside her dripping core from her easy rolling hips.

"You planning on keeping this up the whole night?," rolling her over on his back to let her straddle his hips as she rode his cock, almost fully hardened as her creamy mounds bounced with every downward thrust, her hands braced on his chest for support.

An easy, lazy smile spread her pouty lips as she breathed out her answer, too airy to be as teasing as she wanted, "Can you keep up, acid spitter?"

"Can you?," with a devious toothy grin, he pulled her to his chest as he thrusted into the tense heat of her pussy, her moans music to his ears before her tongue was laving over the juncture of his neck where the scales of his Dragon Force were sporadic. As her mouth found the sensitive white of his scales, his breathy growls turned to rumbling purrs as she sucked on his flesh before pulling back to whisper to him, her lips dancing over the pointed shell of his ear, "You are so fucking sexy, Erik," before pulling it into her mouth, her tongue teasing over the shell.

"Fucking, hell, Lucy..." his breathing grew shallow as easily matched his thrusts with a roll of her hips, she was rubbing her clit over the muscles of his pelvis, her wall fluttering with every pass pulling heavenly moans from the man beneath her, the way his lips split as he did made her lower abdomen churn with a twisting, churning fire, the slow build of her second orgasm taking over her nervous system in such a languid, lazy way, that it had long wanton moans falling from her lips from the pleasure of it.

As much as he liked the way she looked riding him, the way her face twisted with every roll of her hips, he needed more, he wanted to watch her come undone beneath him as he slowly pulled every twitch from her body, every last drop of cum she had for him, because of him. So with a careful flip, her golden hair tangled in the talons of his hand as his other hand kept her pressed into his throbbing cock, he deepened his strokes, the tip of his length rubbing over the spongy soft spot inside her core with every slow pull and easy thrust until her lips parted, her golden eyes shining with unshed tears as he quickened his pace only enough to pull his name from her pouty lips as her bright eyes squeezed shut in the throes of her slow-burning ecstasy, perfectly content to ride out her orgasm before she started getting control of her convulsing muscles to pull him into a ravenous kiss. She was desperate to taste him on her tongue as hers demanded entrance to his mouth, when he granted it to her, she had run the pink muscle over the sharp points of his fangs, sending another wave of arousal to her core, tensing around him before she was sucking his tongue, relishing in the throaty growl that rumbled from his chest. Pulling back to let out a contented sigh, pressing kisses over his tanned face, over the scarred skin over his eye that she thought was sinfully sexy, before letting her head fall backwards on his mattress, her voice satiated and heavy with sleep, "How do you think we can stay under your rock before someone finds us?"

Breathing a sigh at her words, he pulled himself from her depths to lay beside her, the scales of his Dragon Force slowly receding as soon as he did, without a second thought he answered, "As long as we want. I will literally murder any person who steps foot into this house before I get my fill of you."

Sighing out, breathy and light as she turned to lay her head on his chest, her arm wrapping around his midsection as her leg hitched over his pelvis, "Good...good..." before pressing kisses into the tanned skin of his shoulder and nestling into his side. His arm wrapping around her, pulling her tighter against him before pressing his lips to the crown of her head, his voice barely audible as he breathed out, "Happy New Year, Bright Eyes."

Her little rumbling hum was his response before she fell into a deep sleep, the block on her mind coming down as did, leaving him to fall asleep to the symphony of her soul.


End file.
